As some of you might know, my 79 year old mother has dementia. What a fun ride it’s been the last few weeks. I’ll tell you guys more about it in a few minutes.
A few minutes ago, when I decided to check my Substack Dashboard to see if everyone gave up on me, I was surprised and THRILLED folks are still checking out my writing. Thrilled, just thrilled.
So much happened and so much is still the same, thanks to Dementia. Wonderful old age issue. Mama (hey I’m Southern) is still alive but has declined more mentally. Physically, she can almost walk a mile. Might collapse from dehydration, but she can walk and did a lot this past year. More stories on her travels, later.
She has meds for her A-Fib, blood thinners and high blood pressure that keep her from having a stroke. I call them her Anti-Stroke Preservatives. Plus, eight more meds for a couple of other issues, 15 altogether. Since she’s scared to death, of death, I never worried about her forgetting to take her “Anti-Stroke Preservatives” first thing in the morning. Never. Until a few weeks ago.
DO NOT use this information to diagnose yourself or anyone else. See a Doctor.
Let explain, as best as I can. It’s not going to be the right medical terminology, but it will be the way I understand it. Mama has atrial fibrillation.
“Atrial fibrillation, often called AFib or AF, is the most common type of treated heart arrhythmia. An arrhythmia is when the heart beats too slowly, too fast, or in an irregular way.”
My way of understanding it:
When her heart starts beating 154 beats per minute, the arteries cannot, maybe, will not, function (pump) properly, then it will go down to 80, then it might go up to 112, then down to 50, up to 140. All within a minute’s time period, seriously. Have the idea now? Not normal whatsoever. When it does this, the heart will leave blood in her chambers, valves or veins. This left-behind-blood clots up, fast.
Now, let’s add the rest of the picture, in her situation. DO NOT use this information to diagnose yourself or anyone else.
At the same moment, her blood pressure drops down fast. 60 over 35. Yeah. Almost dead. Nice little mix. So, if she is tries to stand, she passes out. Bam! Walk, Bam! Talk, Bam!
When she started this, and I heard the medics and doctors ask her about her A-Fib meds I knew she was/is forgetting to take them completely in the mornings. Wow! I couldn’t believe she was at this point. However, I really should have, after all, since last August of 2022, I’ve had to call 911 fourteen times. She’s been hospitalized fifteen times. She’s there now as I type this.
So, a few weeks ago, I got sick. A sinus and ear infection that took two different types of antibiotics to get rid of it. My doctor said my immune system was over worked. I was struggling. She actually gave me a full week extra on my back to work excuse and told me to take it easy. I couldn’t afford to lose the income, but I knew I needed the rest. I’ll eat beans, I thought.
But I couldn’t rest because Linda Jane (mama) and my lovely redneck family wouldn’t let me. I’ll explain more tomorrow. I’m tired and I need to go to bed now. More tomorrow, or maybe the next day.