A Tale of Four Gamers - the Sequel

[fsn]

Nice sentiments that I can only echo.






So how are the Koreans doing?

[Nosher]

Feel your pain Phil.

Grey Lady Down is our bread and butter. Sadly old ducks on the floor are bumped down the queue whilst were dealing with 20-somethings with stomach ache, 30-somethings with babies with a snotty nose, 40-somethings with nose bleeds and 50-somethings with back pain, most of whom could have got themselves to A&E themselves or to the Docs.

By the time we get to patients that really need us things have often progressed quite rapidly.

Of all the falls in the elderly I go to, most go to hospital as there is generally an underlying issue causing them to become more vulnerable to a fall. Poor hydration leads to urine infections which affects balance, confusion etc all of which make the elderly more likely to fall. Unchecked, underlying infection can lead to urosepsis where the blood becomes infected usually with quite nasty repercussions.

Sounds like your MIL is in good hands and thankfully the injuries she sustained whilst looking pretty awful were not life-changing. Thoughts with you and yours  

[Techno]

Feel your pain Phil.
Of all the falls in the elderly I go to, most go to hospital as there is generally an underlying issue causing them to become more vulnerable to a fall. Poor hydration leads to urine infections which affects balance, confusion etc all of which make the elderly more likely to fall. Unchecked, underlying infection can lead to urosepsis where the blood becomes infected usually with quite nasty repercussions.

Well....I'm impressed !   You definitely know your stuff, Nosher  ......Hospital have confirmed today that she IS suffering from a urinary infection......Sounds very much (from what you've just put) that this could well be part of the underlying problem.

She's on an antibiotic drip at the mo'.....And was rather disappointed that they won't let her home until that's cleared up.
Poor old thing thinks she's been in hospital for 10 days now.....Not just the three and a bit days she really has.

Again .......Very many thanks to all for your wishes and support......Here & via email.

Cheers - Phil.

[Steve J]

All the best Phil. My good friends Mum kept getting urinary infections and falling down due to dehydration. Over a month or so she was constantly re-admitted for the same thing. Eventually he managed to get her keeping her fluid levels up and all now well.

At Matt J: My Mum had an agressive form of dementia at 65 and being a tough old bird, kept on going until just shy of her 70th birthday. That was a very tough 5 years for all concerned, so feel for you and your family. Our son has ASD and the early years were very, very hard, but now he's 16 and things are much, much easier, so just hang on in there.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Blimey.

I painted some stuff tonight, not important in comparison. Stay well all. Hugs.

[lowlylowlycook]

My mom has Parkinsons which is a huge risk factor for falling.   The time that the Physical Therapist giving her an exam told her to close her eyes while remaining standing and she lasted for about a second before needing to grab a rail really brought it home.

But she is aware of the danger and afraid enough of falling that she doesn't have too many incidents.  The only bad one was when she was walking backwards with her rolling walker in a hardware store, tripped and impaled herself on some tent spikes or something similar.  At the time she was on pain killers for a back problem and she hardly complained even though we had to wait a while in an empty emergency room for a few stitches.

Anyway, hopefully the docs can fix up your MIL.  And push those liquids on her.

[Nosher]

Hydration in the elderly is really tough, Few adults drink enough to properly hydrate anyway so most of the issue is learnt behaviour we carry on into later life.

The issue is compounded further by 'the more you drink, the more you pee' meaning you're on your feet more often and therefore more likely to fall. Throw into the mix medication for heart failure or oedema and the problem is further compounded without even taking into consideration decreasing mobility brought on by old age.

Cups of tea are poor in terms of hydration - far more important to be taking on water,

Did the ambulance service mention a Falls Referral at all Phil? Here in Suffolk we can refer a faller to colleagues within the occupational therapy field who can visit patients at home and assess their mobility and the general safety of patients in their home. They can advise and often put in place things that can help the elderly mobilise more independantly at home - hand rails and raised toilet seats - walk in showers etc? They also look at carpets, rugs and doorsteps and even take into account things like entries and exist from the property as well as personal alarms.

Good luck with getting MIL up and about and back home 

[Steve J]

Just finished adding new brass wire lances to the EMM2 Mounted Sergeants, to give a greater variety of poses.

[Techno]

Did the ambulance service mention a Falls Referral at all Phil? Here in Suffolk we can refer a faller to colleagues within the occupational therapy field who can visit patients at home and assess their mobility and the general safety of patients in their home. They can advise and often put in place things that can help the elderly mobilise more independantly at home - hand rails and raised toilet seats - walk in showers etc? They also look at carpets, rugs and doorsteps and even take into account things like entries and exist from the property as well as personal alarms.
Good luck with getting MIL up and about and back home 

Quite a lot of that's been done already, Nosher......There was a bit of a fight over the raised loo seat.....MIL kept taking it away...Von kept putting it back.
I think Von's won, now. 

OTs have put in rails in appropriate areas........But we're still having a fight over all the mats/rugs she has strewn all over the place......We're not happy about those at all, from a safety point of view.....and she will insist on shuffling about in a pair of loose, ill fitting slippers......even though we've bought her new ones.
The one thing we'll be looking at getting, (which we haven't got yet) is a 'seat' for the shower......That's the place I DREAD her falling over in, as it'll be almost impossible for the pair of us to move her from.

The 'memory nurse' that came round a week or so ago, said the MIL's so set in her ways, it'll be very difficult to get her to change.

We'll see.

Cheers - Phil.

[fred.]

Sounds tough Phil

It might be worth using the stay in hospital as a way to make some changes regarding  the rugs and slippers. Hopefully she will be pleased to be back home, and be less upset about the changes. You can always blame them on the hospital anyway! Say that they said it had to be clear for her to get around.

[paulr]

Good thinking Fred

[Steve J]

Just opened a nice package from Pendraken for my planned Imagi-Nations Ancients forces, which was nice as no energy for painting etc after a long day at work

[Techno]

It might be worth using the stay in hospital as a way to make some changes regarding  the rugs and slippers. Hopefully she will be pleased to be back home, and be less upset about the changes. You can always blame them on the hospital anyway! Say that they said it had to be clear for her to get around.

Hmmmm......Might be worth a try.

Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

More paint applied to figures tonight.

[FierceKitty]

Making a few desultory moves with the brush over wild west stuff, but clearly shan't finish it this year.

[d_Guy]

It's good to have goals.

[FierceKitty]

I loathe team sport.

[Steve J]

Finished basic cleaning up of some Sassanid Persians for a planned Ancients force, using Sword & Spear as the preferred ruleset. Lovely figures with great character. I have a plan to finished these by the end of the year, so that I can kick off a campaign of some sort or other....

[Matt J]

WORK, KIDS, WORK, KIDS, WORK, KIDS, WORK, KIDS, WORK, KIDS 

at some point it'll be nice to do some painting again 

[Techno]

I'll swap ya !

No......Perhaps not !.....

Hope you get back in the groove soon, Matey !

Cheers - Phil