Slow Thought Processing

[tricia0304]

Hi

 

My husband suffered a SAH 7 years ago and ended up in hospital and rehab for a year.  He had a vp shunt fitted and was on epilepsy meds for a coupe of years. He made a very good recovery and was independent etc although his short term memory was terrible. 

 

Anyway last July he suffered a bad seizure and was hospitalised and put back on meds.  He then had further episodes of seizures and/or tia in November, February and April when he was hospitalised for 2 months.  They cant confirm if its a tia or seizure as he cant have an MRI scan due to his clipping. 

 

He came home and was doing great, up walking albeit not much, with a walker, and a physio was coming in 3 times a week.  A couple of weeks ago he had a urine infection and since then we haven't been able to get him out of bed and he knows he's doing it but he's being incontinent. 

 

He seems not to be able to process how to get up and I've tried the softly softly approach and then got exasperated with him but nothing works I cant get him to get up out of bed.  He wriggles about but is unable to process how to get up.  I had cancelled the carers but I think I'll have to get them back. 

 

My only worry is that will make him worse in that he wont bother even trying.  This forum was invaluable to us as a family 7 years ago and I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice.

[Super Mario]

Sorry to hear about your husbands problems.

 

Get an urgent referral via your GP to the incontinence clinic and they will provide pads free of charge. May be embarrassing but better than accidents'

 

Secondly, get an assessment through Social Services Adult Care. They can provide aids to assist getting out of bed which may well help him.

 

A physio assessment would be helpful too as they could teach him how to get out of bed. In fact you could have a go at that your self, telling him step by step what to do. May or may not work.

 

Depression may well be another thing for your GP to look into as it can manifest itself in many different ways.  

[Daffodil]

Tricia, so sorry to hear this , what a worrying time for you and the family and your husband will be finding  this setback so de-moralising I am sure so definitely. Try and get some help for his coming to terms with this change in his health and loss of independence.

 

I wonder if you could push for some neurological assessments, maybe Headway might help in these Covid times as he won’t be the first patient to have had set backs like this, he may not realise he is doing this  if he also has a deep seatedbladder  infection as they can make you really go off radar...worth checking it really has cleared  and that’s there is no other infection.

 

Bang the drum is all I will say. It’s harder at the moment I know with Covid as they just want to send you home but find a person to help advocate to help you help him.  Is there a neurological nursing specialist at your treating hospital or a Shunt Team? , both are invaluable to me and I called my team this week with a concern and they are straight back to me with suggestions. I hope you can call and get some assistance. 

 

Sending healing thoughts, 

[V.Mama]

@tricia0304 I'm really sorry to hear about your husband's ill health and decline.  I fully agree with @Daffodil, get an urgent review of the UTI.  An unsuccessfully treated UTI can masquerade as dementia and other conditions such as depression, and needs to be reviewed, regardless, it sounds like your husband needs a medical review.  I hope you can get some attention for him asap.  What a difficult time for you both.  

 

Hoping for some answers for you soon.