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12:16 p.m. - 2006-03-23 Keep them alive at any cost?We walked in the nursing home recommended by her doctor and I wasn�t even through the doors before the smell hit me. I couldn�t identify the odor and figured that it must be a conglomeration of smells related to the elderly, perhaps the odor of dead and dying body cells. It was like the odor of death and dying. When I last saw my Mother in law, she had completely recovered from the TIA stroke she had in my kitchen and was coherent and aware of her surroundings, directing us to check in her bedroom for where she knew she had hidden money and candy bars and wanting to be in on every thing said about her condition. My work schedule and proximity to home prevents visiting during the week. She had 3 more TIA�s on Monday morning. My daughter visited that evening and didn�t notice anything different about her but my husband noticed some mental deterioration and so did a cousin that stopped in to see her. Reports of her condition as of Tuesday and on, describe a woman who has completely lost touch with reality. The MRI and further CAT scans show no brain damage, which just shows the limitations of these expensive tests. They have put her on blood thinners and will transfer her to a nursing home for �physical therapy�. Medicare will pay for up to 100 days as long as she need specialized nursing care�then after that�it�s 5700.00 per day not including medical care until her meager nest egg is consumed (a couple of months)�then she will have to be moved again to a public aid nursing home not as nice as the one we visited last night and the one we visited last night is depressing. She has been described by the hospital staff as �combative�, pulling out her IV and pulling off her heart monitor insisting it belongs to her roommate. She thinks an orderly is �the cook� and that a man and woman who came in to check her over and clean her up are a �nice young man and his girlfriend�. A nurse seen in the company of a male hospital employee was a man and his wife, who did something to her. When she wanted something from home she was found wandering the halls looking for �her� bathroom�her home bathroom which she was sure was right around the corner. Last night we got a phone call. They sat her in a chair with a table in front of it then left her alone to have a snack. A while later they found her laying face up under the table with abrasions on her back from sliding out of the chair in an attempt to escape it. They will put her in the locked down part of the home reserved for the worst Alzheimer�s patients. When we went last night, the regular unit looked depressing, then we went into the Alzheimer�s unit. I wanted to cry. Most people were sitting and staring off into oblivion. One lady was twisting her hair. Another was screaming �help me..help me� while another smiled a big ol smile and waved at everyone who passed by. I learned something of myself though. I am not the evil, cruel hearted person I thought I was. I�d take her back in an instant to keep her from having to live there. P. I. Yarnsmith
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