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I moved him to my home because he kept falling and breaking bones. The rehab place couldn't even put rails on his bed. Now I have a bed with rails and an alarm under his mattress. He still tries to get up at night and if he makes it - he is on the floor before the alarm can sound.
I know I'm very lucky because he has 12 hour a day care and he's still pretty pleasant but I'm scared he's going to hurt himself again!

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And most likely he will hurt himself again. It is important that you don't blame yourself. These falls happen so quickly, no one is to blame. My FIL couldn't remember he didn't have legs anymore. He would wake up, lean over on his side - and thinking he was swinging his legs out of bed- fall on to the floor. We had his bed lowered so he would not fall as far. Some relatives wanted people hired to stay by his bed when he slept. Only truly wealthy people can afford such care.

After all the reasonable precautions, he eventually tore his bowel when he launched himself out of his geri chair onto his low lying bed.

MIL doesn't remember that she doesn't have the strength to stand up, much less walk. We could see her becoming a bigger and bigger fall risk. Then she fell and broke her hip. Hip is healed, she still can't walk, one of these days it is quite likely she will forget and in just a few seconds, end up breaking something else.

Because falling happens in just seconds, that's what makes it pretty difficult to prevent. Don't obsess (if you were thinking about it:) and don't be unrealistic about what can actually be prevented. Children and elderly people are going to fall, gravity should be blamed, no one else.
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I have the same problem with Mom. In a wheelchair, with dementia. Wakes up at night and forgets she cant walk. I barely sleep. I have a baby monitor so I can hear if she wakes at night. Unfortunately I hear ever moan, groan and fart too! You are doing the BEST you can!
My sister (the idiot) watched her for a few days so I could get a break. She was on the couch not 5 feet from Moms bed. She(the idiot) slept on her GOOD ear! I didn't even know she had a bad one! So Mom fell and yelled for 10 minutes, bleeding.....before the IDIOT woke up. I call this sister the idiot so y'all don't get her confused with my other sister...the selfish, jealous, attention whore, bitch. I just call her bitch for short. Thank God I have 2 wonderful brothers!
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PS. Mom snores like a freight train.
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First I have to say that I LOVE when I hear my mom snore . She has severe sleep apnea and when she's snoring, I know she's breathing.
As far as Bed Monitors, They have more false alarms so its like the boy that cried wolf. What has been a godsend for me are the IP Camera's ( you can get them online or at Best Buy, Apple store etc. (Tip: Get the one with AUDIO )
You can view on a PC/MAC or a Ipad or similar device. most of the software available has Alarm Settings which are triggered by motion. And you can record the video so if there is a fall, you can watch to see how they fell or just as important , how they landed. I always go back to the video to see where the greatest impact was . ie. Did they hit their head ?
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It never occurred to me that my mother has forgotten she can't walk without assistance. No matter how many times I tell her to use bedside commode she still gets up to us the bathroom 10 feet away. I am at my wits end trying to keep her safe. These posts are very helpful.
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My poor mom forgets she can't get up or walk either. Even though she can't raise herself up or stand, she'll tell people she can. They look all wide eyed at me like really. I just stand there smh. So sad but at least her weakness prevents her from getting up and falling. A twisted blessing in disguise.
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My mom would wake up in the middle of the night and think it was morning and get up and fall. She would forget that she couldn't walk without the walker and later unable to walk at all. I can't tell you how many times she fell - I know of 8 because I was at the emergency room with her 8 times in 5 months. I am sure that she fell more times and she and my dad didn't tell me. At AL there are not allowed to put up bed rails - so this was an ongoing issue. I pushed one side her bed to the wall - and a large pad on the side of the bed that was open and lowered the bed - so if she fell, it might help with stopping any broken bones. At one point, I put up a blockade around the open side of the bed - wheel chair, walker and rocking chair - so she would at least look at all of these items and hopefully slow her down a little. Nothing really seem to work. It was amazing to me that it took 2 people to get her to the bathroom or into a wheel chair but she could get up out of bed - and take a few steps. The mind over body determination is an amazing thing. Part of her issue was she hated to be in her bed so much. Getting her into a wheel chair and into other parts of the facility seem to calm her some. She really hated losing her independence. So, she kept trying to regain some of it. When I would try to remind her about the walker, etc. she would not remember falling at all and couldn't understand our concern. No amount of reminding her to push the call button or the pendant made a real difference. It is a tough battle.
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