I provide regular daily care to our neighbor. I go early with meds, help her toilet - depending on what needs to be done, make sure she has lunch either delivered or I take it in, take evening meds, take dinner, go back late and tuck her in, sometimes check on her in the middle of the night, keep up with household chores, shopping, etc.

Over the last year I have noticed that when Maire has a bowel issue, either way - that she suddenly looses a good deal of mental function, and in every case a fall or near fall has occured.

I added a bulk building laxative to her med regime and as long as she is on it we seem to do well. I limit her dietary drinks - ENSURE etc to 1 every other day or so. She is offered 5 - 6 glasses of water a day, and we usually get 3 of them down her. I have taken her off of coffee, tea. She prefers, Sausage gravy over a torn biscut for breakfast, Lunch is hit and miss, and i make individual quiche for dinner - sausage, cheeses, eggs of course, and sometimes I can hide a little finely chopped veggie. Every other week we try to go to the traditional meat and 2 for her meals: Meatloaf mashed potatoes corn pudding - Turkey dressing mashed sweet potatoes green bean casserole. her total plate size is about 1 and 1/2 cups. she usually gets about 3/4s in her. Even with adding Megastrol Acetate (sic) some times we resort to a Nutrigrain bar a cup of ice cream and a nutritional drink.

All of this is to get here - Yesterday she was having a cantankerous day after a good week. I know when she refuses food we are in for an episode in the bathroom. I was away from (we were all away from) the baby monitor for about 2.5 hours yesterday she was sleeping. When I gathered up her meds and dinner and went over she was in the bed room trying to put a sweat shirt on like pants and was naked from the waist down. The odor was horrendus and the messes were evident. I got her to the Hospital style potty and realized she had diarrhea from her knees to her navel on both sides. I let her rest and we talked about it. She agreed that getting in the shower on her shower stool and getting washed of was probably the only way.

We have done this before with out TOO much trouble. I got her in and she was holding the back of her chair and i had just about finished washing her and she was getting ready to sit down... and she froze and tipped over with her head on the wall of the shower and holding on to the chair for dearlife. She was non respondant. She went pale as a ghost from top to bottom and crossed her legs with me holding on for dear life she sat down in a fetal positon her false teeth fell out of her mouth - I thoughfor sure she had died on the spot, and then she sounded like darth vadar trying to breath. THANK THE STARS IN THE HEAVENS for the moniter. I was hollering for my husband. He came running and I climbed in the tub with her and got down where I could see her face. Marie... here eyes were moving - there she was in there. we managed to use the shower chair as a bridge to get her up and dried and in a clean depends and dressed. she was still pale and cold, but nodding or shaking her head as responses. Little by little we got her on her feet and into her recliner and started with bites of fruit, and her quiche and finally her evening meds. Kenny stayed in the house and ran trash and kitchen stuff for me while I made up her couch (everything takes place at the couch). Her color and voice came back. I checked on her every couple of hours through the night. THis morning she was so sore it was hard to get her to help me lift/walk her the 1 foot to the hosptial potty beside the sofa. Her bowels moved again. I got her situated. She took her meds and drank water with out complaint. I fixed pancakes and a sausage patty for breakfast. Which I had to feed to her. She got the sausage down and about 1 1/2 pancakes with butter and syrup.

Here is my concern. Her doc will not give her anything other than aricept and namenda, she takes a blood pressure pill.

Here is my question - Is this a blood sugar drop, is this a sudden stop of brain function, is this related to her bowel - which my caregivers journal shows.

What can I add to home care to make it easier for her and me to stand her up and get her turned around. How can I make her understand - like ... well like our parents used to say... you had better go to the bath room now and try, it is a couple of hours until our next stop.

Today she is so stiff and sore. I bet! Of course so am I.

Ideas, suggestions, teach me to help Marie.

I'm not a care consultant but if it were me, I'd have her evaluated by a doctor sooner rather than later for the episode she had last night (being nonresponsive). It's important to find out what was going on last night, in my opinion.
They sell transfer boards that may help her to move from a wheelchair or chair/sofa to the toilet.

Dear wrdbrn,

Thank you for writing to us. I can see how hard you're working to care for Marie. Yours is a medical question, and Care Consultants are not medically trained. Please provide her doctor with your account of her symptoms and the concerns you have. It sounds like the doctor should be informed of this, and may have advice for you.

Meanwhile, feel free to call us for reliable information and support about caregiving and the disease. Social workers and counselors are available through the 24-hour helpline @ 1-800-272-3900.

Sincerely yours,
Kathleen