(no subject)
Sigh. Dad fell again. Betty had stepped outside for a quick smoke and Dad was asleep in his bed. I was in my office on the computer when I heard a big thump and and I ran out and Dad was laying on his side in his bedroom.
He did not hurt himself though other than a bit of bruising. But we finally just could not stand it anymore and called the hospice people in the middle of the night. It was midnight when he fell and they send a nurse out who got there at 1am. She was really sweet and hand on a shirt that said "I love soldier boys". Ha, I thought, so do I.
Anyway she checked him out and gave him some morphine. Thats apparently good stuff. We had tried it with him before in pill form but it seemed to make him itch. This was in liquid form though and has not had any side affects other than making him sleepy.
She decided to cathertize him. We should have done this before but he was really resistant. Holy Cow! He let out about 1200 milleters of urine. The nurse said that normally we hold about 70. He must have been so uncomfortable, but as usual he didn't tell us about it. At any rate, now he sleeps at night and does not get up for any midnight wanderings. He has not fallen since then. We also got the hospice people to put a different kind of railing than the kind they orginally put on the bed. This is longer and he has a more difficult time lowering it and so makes enough racket so that either Betty or I hear him trying to get up. We also hired someone to watch him during the day which really helps, we have just been so burnt out. I haven't been to work in two weeks and Betty and i have just been trying to take care of Dad.
Hopefully we are at the point where I can go back to work. But I really don't want to because my Dad is fading fast and I feel like I should be there becuase I'm not going to have any more chances otherwise. But if I don't go to work I don't get paid and I need the money to pay his mortgage. So I will try to go into work tommorrow. Fortunatly there is a lot I can do from home.
He did not hurt himself though other than a bit of bruising. But we finally just could not stand it anymore and called the hospice people in the middle of the night. It was midnight when he fell and they send a nurse out who got there at 1am. She was really sweet and hand on a shirt that said "I love soldier boys". Ha, I thought, so do I.
Anyway she checked him out and gave him some morphine. Thats apparently good stuff. We had tried it with him before in pill form but it seemed to make him itch. This was in liquid form though and has not had any side affects other than making him sleepy.
She decided to cathertize him. We should have done this before but he was really resistant. Holy Cow! He let out about 1200 milleters of urine. The nurse said that normally we hold about 70. He must have been so uncomfortable, but as usual he didn't tell us about it. At any rate, now he sleeps at night and does not get up for any midnight wanderings. He has not fallen since then. We also got the hospice people to put a different kind of railing than the kind they orginally put on the bed. This is longer and he has a more difficult time lowering it and so makes enough racket so that either Betty or I hear him trying to get up. We also hired someone to watch him during the day which really helps, we have just been so burnt out. I haven't been to work in two weeks and Betty and i have just been trying to take care of Dad.
Hopefully we are at the point where I can go back to work. But I really don't want to because my Dad is fading fast and I feel like I should be there becuase I'm not going to have any more chances otherwise. But if I don't go to work I don't get paid and I need the money to pay his mortgage. So I will try to go into work tommorrow. Fortunatly there is a lot I can do from home.