Mom’s been out of the Hospital for a week, now…What a week! She was discharged from Haven Behavioral last Saturday. They had lost her tri-fold glasses and her shoes with orthotic insoles in them(which they had taken away from her the first day because they had shoe strings in them). Thankfully, I noticed that the hearing aids that she was wearing, as we were leaving, weren’t her own and they were able to track down the correct ones before we left. She wore someone else’s shoes out the door and we returned them after I got her some new ones. They started Mom on a sleeping pill the night before I picked her up and they didn’t think to tell me that she fell that morning before I got there or that she would then be at a great risk for falling. I found out pretty quickly that she couldn’t function without the help of a walker and definitely, under these medications, she wasn’t able to take care of herself in any regard.
Having said all of this, I feel that for the most part, good decisions were made for Mother’s sake while she was at Haven Behavioral Senior Care in Thornton, Colorado. They could definitely improve on the communications with family and other doctors and in counseling at discharge. It was very difficult to make assessments about her care while she was there due to the lack of professional information and the one hour per day visitation policy. But, she survived it, aside from the injuries from the fall to her left leg and foot…and this hospital was a place where she could safely get off of the medication that she was on that may have been contributing to the anxious screaming she was haunted with and be placed on some others that will hopefully turn out to be the best choice for her for now and possibly in the long run. She thinks that her stay at Haven Behavioral Senior Care was a pleasant one and I personally witnessed a caring nursing and aid staff. Thank you to Amy, Kristine, Krystal, John, Brenda and all the rest who lovingly cared for Mom when I couldn’t personally be there to do it. They made this experience more livable and obviously had a desire to serve.
from the video game Beyond Good and Evil
When leaving the hospital, we weren’t sure what or where we should go. It was obvious that Mom wasn’t ready to come home. She was still frightened to come back to the place that her brain had so creatively developed demons. Lucy and Billy Peeples, friends of Jeanne and John Precup, who live in Thornton, Colorado opened their home and hearts to us over the past week. They were loving and gracious and made us feel at home when we were concerned about over-staying our welcome. The days that we stayed there proved to be so important. It gave me a chance to assess where Mom was in regards to sleeping habits and her abilities to walk on her own and to talk through her fears about the water and devil. Dr. Gene Dawson, one of Mom’s doctors in Montrose, had suggested that we have a consult with Dr. Erwin Mozer, M.D., while in the Denver area. He wasn’t able to see us until Thursday evening, so we had to stay in the Denver area, just to be there for his appointment. At first I was so disappointed that he could see us any earlier. But, as the days went by, it became evident that this was a healing time for Mom and a good time to see how she was doing on the medications that she left the hospital with.
It was such a blessing to be in Lucy and Billy’s home. They are un-judging Christians with firm faith. This was something that Mom really needed. With the loving care of the nurses at Haven Behavioral, they were not allowed to pray with the patients and I was never able to find a firm source, while she was there, for someone to pray on a regular basis with her. Prayer was and is such a major part of Mom’s recovery and it must have confused her to and she surely felt the absence of this force being used to help her heal. Lucy and Billy took us to church where he was honored as a veteran. He spent many years in the Navy serving our country and the church wanted to be sure that he, and others, knew that we are all grateful for their spirit and time spent. They prayed with Mom many times, each day, not in a long drawn out prayer time, but in a way that is just normal for prayer in an every-day life. They shared their faith and positive guiding attitudes with us. Lucy gave Mom a lovely rosary that she will always cherish. She used that rosary to help herself turn the frightening thoughts, that she had in the night, over to God. Their home was just what we needed and what cherished friends they have become. They are truly remarkable people…the Peeples.
We’ve discontinued two of the five medications that she was released with on the recommendation of Dr. Erwin Mozer of Denver. Dr. Mozer specializes is geriatric psychiatry. Meeting with him was well worth the wait and was a breath of fresh air following the complete and frustrating feeling of being out of control and having Mom someplace that seemed to have little accountability. We were very impressed by Dr. Mozer and he was open to sharing answers to all sorts of questions that we might have about how the medications work and from Mom’s history what the root of the onset most probably was. He thinks that the odd thoughts that she began having were probably directly related to the stroke and that we’ll have to take some time to completely get rid of them. I have to say that she did better in many ways on the test that he orally gave to her than I did sitting next to her trying to answer the questions in my mind. He asked her to name the presidents from current back. He gave her three things to remember, then asked her a bunch of other questions and then came back to the three things. He made her subtract by 7s starting at some number just over 100…and some other things that I can’t remember…**chuckle** I’d say that she answered about 70% of everything he asked, correctly.
We’ve made our way home and the only time that Mom has screamed since I picked her up over a week ago, was during one bad dream in the middle of the night. I found that I could get her away from the dream and get her to stop screaming as long as I could get her awake enough to pray the Our Father or a Hail Mary. The next morning she didn’t even remember that it happened and was very sad to think that she might have screamed, again. But, it hasn’t happened since. Tonight, Lillian is staying with her and I am enjoying the laughter of my children as they play and we make Over Night French Toast. If you’re interested in the recipe, click here. I have a few of my most favorite recipes at this site so I can access them where ever I might be
We’ve set the table for breakfast and with Craig working for the night, I plan to go upstairs, take a hot bath and let Stefi soak her feet in the water. We’ll snuggle and say our prayers and it will be the perfect end to a perfect day.
Thank you, all, for your prayers. Without them, I can’t imagine where we would be. You are all our angels, but I truly believe that God put Billy and Lucy in the middle of our adventure as very special angels, angels that helped us through what could have been an impossible time. Mom came back from a trip to the front range saying, “That was such a lovely trip, wasn’t it?” ……..g’night.