S: Mom is in the hospital

[OC]

My stepdad collapsed at home a couple weeks ago. He was rushed to the hospital where was was diagnosed with dimentia. He was out in a couple days and back at home. He went even further downhill after he got home. He more or less needs full-time care at this point, which of course fell to my mom. She's not physically capable of taking care of a 200lb man who essentially can't take care of himself at all anymore.

The last two weeks have taken their toll quickly on my mom. She was taken to the hospital today, just a couple hours ago actually, suffering from dehydration and pneumonia. Her nurse told me she's resting comfortably, and they're waiting for test results to come back. I'm going to call back in an hour or so to see if I can find out more.

[kgsilvas]

Sorry about your mom and stepdad. Can she get some help with in-home care for him? If his physical condition is rapidly declining and he is considered terminal, then they would be eligible for hospice care too.

[OC]

Sorry about your mom and stepdad. Can she get some help with in-home care for him? If his physical condition is rapidly declining and he is considered terminal, then they would be eligible for hospice care too.It's not really that he's terminal, he just seems to have given up. She'd just started looking into care options for him when she fell ill herself.

[kimchicowboy]

sorry to hear about that dude. :( i hope things get better.

[Jenny]

Oh hon. :( That sucks!

[Sirrich3]

Hope things get better for both

[ufcrusher]

Thats too bad...hopefully your mom will be feeling better soon. If you were close to home, I would probably try to offer some help by coming over a few times a week to take the edge off the situation for your mom.

However, as has already been mentioned either in home care or putting him in an assisted care facility would be the best. Depending on how much care he really needs it might actually be cheaper to have the aid worker come by then moving him full time.

[DarkFury]

Awwww man... OC.

I really do hope that things get better for your family soon.

[ShawnLee]

I'm really sorry to hear it man. If there's something we can help you with (from wherever we are in internet land), please let us know.

[Houdini]

I'm really sorry to hear it man. If there's something we can help you with (from wherever we are in internet land), please let us know.

:stupid: You all are in my prayers.

[OC]

Thanks everyone. I got a call from one of my mom's friends last night. The doctors have ruled out pneumonia, and they wanted to run a few more tests. (I think it's exhaustion.) They ended up not keeping her overnight, and mom is going to be staying with friends for a while.

On my stepdad: A neighbor is looking after him, and he can suddenly take better care of himself now that mom isn't around. I don't know if mom going to the hospital shocked him into it or what. The man has a history of playing passive-agressive mind games with my mother - I've barely spoken to him for the last several years because of this - and it would not surprise me at all to find out he's been milking things recently. There's more history here too that makes me suspicious, but I'll spare you the details.

Again, thanks everyone. I really appreciate the thoughts and prayers.

[oblongmelon]

Why does it seem that sucky things happen in bunches...? Sorry for the bad situation OC..hope it gets better for your mom and S.dad.