I do wish that others of us could have been there to hear what the doctor said and also to support mom when she was hearing it. She had convinced herself that she was done with the doctor - somehow she either dreamed it or confused it with something else. But at least she didn't think the doc was going to tell her she was going to die. Dr. Mody had four important things to tell mom as a result of the neuro-psych examination she took in November:
1) Mom needs to move to an assisted living situation while she can still associate a new surrounding in her memory banks. It will be more difficult to move into a new place when her memory has deteriorated even more. As you can imagine, this idea was rejected immediately by mom. I have asked her to look at the assisted living places and to try to keep an open mind. She doesn't understand assisted living - she only knows about convalescent home. Please help keep her positive about this idea when you speak with her. She will probably enjoy assisted living very much because there are so many more opportunities for her to be sociable. And she is worried about money.
2) Mom should stop driving immediately. Dr. Mody was concerned that she is still driving at all. We all knew that this was coming. We talked about just going to kroger, boric and cvs for now and praying that nothing will happen. She promises that she will stay within these limits for now but WE must make plans to terminate the driving.
3) Mom's memory is declining and she should try a medication to try to slow the decline. So mom agreed to try Aricept. As you can imagine, she is not happy to have another pill but she agreed to try. So now she has four in the morning and three in the evening. Doctors were surprised that we considered her in charge of her own meds. Aricept has some side effects for some people so be on the lookout for dizziness, bad dreams, sleep issues (more and less) or gastrointestinal problems. Please let me or Rock know if mom complains of any of these!
4) Mom needs durable powers of attorney for financial and medical affairs. Mom and I handled this two summers ago. Thank goodness.
Her blood sugar is still high, her cholesterol is still high and she has been referred to a Neurologist that specializes in memory loss. She had another thyroid blood test taken so that we can make sure she is on the right dosage of thyroid medication. Doctor did check the hernia area but it was not hurting mom so she had a hard time locating it. She can be referred to a surgeon about the hernia, if it continues to bother her.
Her next appointment is March 11 when she will have a bone density test and see the doctor for a regular visit.
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2 comments:
Jason, Diana, and I went to dinner with Noonie on Friday the 29th. Noonie was really happy to see Diana, so it was nice that she stopped by to see Noonie.
Noonie got a little confused when the conversation went too fast, but I think that is pretty normal for her. We kept jumping subjects - she was also speaking Italian to our server, and she was remembering a lot more words than she usually uses.
Noonie did tell me that she had gotten really sick on Thursday night. She thought it might have been something she ate, but based on her description of how she was feeling, I am not so sure. It definitely wasn't a bout of vertigo, but I think it she was still pretty sick. Not sure if she had just started the new med or not, but that might have been the problem?
Overall though, pretty good visit.
By the way, can someone invite me to the blog so I can post and not always have to reply?
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