Support/Advice needed: Mom is under hospice care (cancer) + other issues: CHF, dementia and diabetes.
My mom has been under hospice for 14 months now and has been pretty stable until today. Suddenly this morning she had an onset of vomiting, head spinning and sweating. I called for the nurse and she came out to check her vitals: BP reading were high 191/107 but has since come down to 117/77 with a pulse reading of 69 (late afternoon)
The sudden vomiting and head spinning happened one other time in Nov. 2019 and I called 911 and she was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with benign positional vertigo and an UTI. During her 2 week hospital stay, they treated the UTI but the vertigo lingered (meds for vertigo was causing all sorts of hallucinations and was stopped). They also performed multiple MRI's, a spinal tap and scans. Mom was eventually discharged to rehab for 3 weeks. After that she never walked again, became totally incontinent and experienced sharp mental decline. I've always believed something happened in her brain that was missed.
The vomiting has since stopped, just occasional dry heave when I try to change her as she's bedbound. She's just sleeping now...extremely tired.
Any advice/ suggestions on next steps or what to ask for is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
3 Answers
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Other than some test or diagnosis, I don't know what I'm searching for. I just feel like there is something going on that may have been missed.
Before my mom's admission to hospice, she was diagnosed with diabeties but it was managed with diet and was working out just fine. Now that she has been under hospice care for 14+ months now, I just don't know where everything stands...if that makes sense.
Is she back to baseline? Thinking of you and your mom.
My mom is doing much better and appears to be back to baseline. One thing I've noticed is that she's a lot more tired. Sleeping later into the morning and taking naps and going to bed at same time. I plan to mention this to her nurse when she comes Tuesday. Thanks again,
My mom's head pretty much stays elevated all the time especially during the day when this occurred this morning. I gave her odansetron and that seem to help with the vomiting a bit. The head spinning continues and when I change her that makes it worse and triggers dry heave, because there is nothing left to vomit.