Yesterday
A week full of head spins
On Monday a visit to the neurologist
The results of the latest SPECT scan
and the neuropsychology tests…
Bad news
The dementia has progressed clinically
My frontal lobes are now involved
Yet still I am not presenting as badly
as the clinical picture indicates…
Good news
I wonder what this really means
Am I having more irrational thoughts
Making bad decisions
Perhaps yesterday has proven
This is so
Standing on a swivel chair
Reaching up to a high cupboard
Then spinning uncontrollably
Bouncing with the force of the spinning
Head then elbow onto bookcase
Yelling for help as I thumped
A crumpled heap on the floor
Out cold
Waking to the sounds of Jodi
Calling an ambulance
Strapped into a neck brace
Heading to a private hospital
To be treated like a moron
Simply because of three words
‘She has dementia’
The first nurse asked me would I co-operate
or would they have to sedate me!
And at shift handover I was referred to as Bay 18
Then they talked about me
Not to me
At the mention of dementia, one nurse asked the other
Was I able to speak, would I be co-operative
I raised the nerve to rise above their insults
And suggested they ask me
Even as my head continued to hurt and spin
No wonder the research clearly shows
People with dementia
Do not do well in hospitals
Staff are not trained to know how to treat them
Even though they are a ‘caring’ profession
Following a CT scan of my head and neck
And a few hours of observation
I went home with no serious injury
An egg on my head, a black elbow
A few other aches and bruises
I feel like I’ve been in a car crash
Stiff, bruised a headache and various aching body parts
But most of all I feel annoyed
To be reminded once again
People with dementia are somehow less than human
Horrible experience Kate, both the fall itself and then in hospital. Hope you will soon feel much better. xx
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Kate, I had to read to find out more. This just confirms my belief that you are so indestructibly strong and the most eligible challenger in this battle for awareness. Sending you and the boys (& the gorgeous kitties) an infinite amount of my love, admiration and respect. xox
p.s. No, you are not Wonder Woman. You are far superior. That fictitious hero has nothing compared to the real deal.
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Darling Jess, I love you too xxx
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Hope the bumps and bruises heal soon. Thanks for continuing to raise awareness (with such clarity), because we all need to be doing this to help staff ‘get it’ … to see the person, and respond with empathy, respect and care…. to ‘get over their own fear’ and respond with greater confidence in their own abilities to connect. Because they can, and when they do, we are all the better for it.
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Thank you Karrie. It is only if people speak up that anyone knows if something is not or king well enough.
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So sorry to hear about this, Kate. Get better soon. I’m speaking at a conference on human flourishing about the problem of malignant positioning that goes on after a diagnosis of dementia. Every little helps I hope.
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Well done you… I’d love to read your speech, or hear you if it’s being recorded???
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Would you mind if I do a post with a link to your post? I want others to read it. I guess that’s called “re-posting”…. Let me know.
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Of course you can re-post – just go to the top of my blog when you are logged in and hit re-blog.
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I was enraged by this very fact when my mother was in the hospital a year ago. Good for you. And I’m glad you are okay. And so glad you write. You are a terrific writer. Thank you.
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I’m so sorry your mother experienced this too… sadly it is the norm. And thnaks for your kind words.
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Kate – I’m so sorry for the physical and also the emotional toll that the fall took.
Email Alzheimers Australia about your experience and see if they can do something about getting nurses education about how to treat patients with dementia. Know what I mean?
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Thankfully Alz Australia are working on this very issue
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Clear those heavy metals out of your body Kate and you’ll be doing even better. If you need that link again let me know. I certainly hope you don’t take to heart what the tests and doctors tell you, for if you do you have succumbed to them and given up the fight. There are a gazillion alternative ways to fight disease now and those ways are working, it is just a matter of finding the courage to say NO, I will do things my way. I will not buy into being told I am this percent or that percent sick, you are what you choose to be Kate. Take the Zeolite, get the heavy metals out and see how you feel. You may be surprised and if that makes you feel better then you go on and try the next new thing. The minute you believe a doctors diagnosis as gospel truth, you’ve given up and given in. I know you have more fight in you than that my friend!!! Have a wonderful weekend and be in control…VK xxoo
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Zeolite in progress VK… and as for me accepting their lot, you know me better than that by now!!! Blessings and love my friend. xx
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Oh thank goodness. I was beginning to worry you were loosing your fight. Stay feisty Kate and accept the challenge that you can make yourself, if not well again, at least far better than before. Too many listen to doctors and then just fade away. While you have the ability, fight hard my friend and try everything at your disposal. Sending you love and hope and a shot of extra courage 🙂 VK xxx
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Not until my last breath VK!! I write about what happens like it is though, to make sure the reality is expressed, which might sound like I’ve given up. Never…
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Darling Kate, it’s not PC but you need a bruiser to land a few well placed wallops when hospital staff are SO bloody ignorant and treat PWD as though they’ve had their brains sucked out! Don’t know how you keep your temper! Hope you are feeling better m’dear.
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Hmmm, I only kept my temper because I felt too unwell to tongue lash them… relaying my experience here is the best I can do for now. All I can say is my experience was 150% better than my friend who was in a public hospital about 18 months ago… A sad inditement (not sure of word or spelling here??!!) on our health care system
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Oh my dear friend, as a person who falls (all the time) I have been treated like this, except insert have you been drinking? were you pissed and fell over? the answer each time has been NO but that doesn’t stop the discrimination. I hope you are ok my dear and I hope your pride heals at the same time as the bruises xxx sending *cyber hugs*
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I’m shocked to hear of your experience of discrimination too… what the hell happened to this ‘caring’ profession???????!!!!!!!
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Exactly, it really isn’t that caring, perhaps our generation still feel that value as a carer or perhaps it’s us old theatre nurses, advocates, the voice for the unconscious etc. even when darling daughter dislocated her shoulder at YOGA the ER dr gave her enough narcotics we spent the night in hospital, when I asked if I was going to have to resuscitate her with respiration rate of 8, he said that ALL girls / Boys her age were spirit binge drinkers and took speed so they drug them up for patients who weigh over 100kg, so they can control them.. she is only 46kgs.. terrifying.. Love you lots
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Jeezus… How bloody disgraceful is that. You poor things. You must have been terrified and horrified/angry all at once. Love you lots too xxx
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And I meant to say, these days, NOTHING surprises me…
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My Dearest Kate…..you are supposed to be looking after yourself, more care about you, become a little selfish and let someone help you…..we all care and worry about you…..you are not Superwoman [well not yet anyway] ………and your hospital experience just shows how little we understand about Dementia…….and sadly, how little we really care…….I understand how frustrating it can be for you, believe me !!..
……the challenge is how to make everyone aware that we are on the cusp of a worldwide epidemic, and that everybody is a potential candidate for this horrible disease……….and there is no cure, only Tony Hogben’s current treatment with Adrenalin…
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Hahaha… Tony, when I was working in operating theatres, I was labeled Wonder-woman once!! Ignorance is easily the better option for people without dementia, it seems… And I’ve given the information of your curative treatment to my Neurologist to look at, and if not for me, it might be useful for his AD patients, thank you. He is very open minded these days.
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