On April 6th it was determined that Granddaddy’s replaced left hip had come out of joint, so Daddy took him to the ER. The hip was re-placed into its socket, but putting him to bed that night it was discovered that the hip was out again. So on April 7th Daddy took him back to the hospital. They got the hip put back in place again, and he is now wearing an immobilizer brace. There was discussion of giving him another hip replacement, but under the circumstances that was decided against. Putting him under anesthesia in his condition very well might be fatal, both because of an aortic stenosis which the doctors discovered he has, and because of how the anesthesia hastens the decline in those with LBD.
Granddaddy remained in the hospital until April 16th, when he was brought back home. He was supposed to have 6 weeks of rehab in a nursing home facility, but none of them would take him because he does not qualify for physical therapy and (most likely the real reason) because of his probable LBD. It seems that LBD patients are often violent. G-daddy is not violent however, and since he is not ambulatory (he is now confined either to bed or the recliner, and brace bound to keep his hip from popping out) I don’t suppose it would make much difference on that front if he were. Regardless, none of the nursing homes would take him on for his 6 week rehab jaunt, so he was brought home instead.
Over the past couple of weeks Granddaddy has really declined. He is hallucinating 99% of the time, though he does have a few lucid moments. For the most part his mind is just “not there”, he is somewhere else. For example the other morning the whole house was woke up by his hollering…It appeared that he was working cows.
When he speaks, his speech is so slurred that it is indecipherable most of the time, it would appear that the LBD has particularly affected this part of his brain.
He is also refusing to eat or drink very much, and if he continues in this pattern he will not last very long. He will probably be put under hospice care relatively soon. This will (at least initially) be in home hospice care, so the daily routines will not be much different from what they are now, we will simply have people “on call” to help us should we need it.
Please be in prayer for us all, may God grant strength, grace, and wisdom.
For The Kingdom,
Daughter Number III