Husband was a long-time smoker, 56 plus years. He’s had COPD and was using an inhaler while still smoking. He got Covid which made it worse, but he recovered and was sent home from the hospital with oxygen. Once he felt better back to smoking, he went. The oxygen went back. Four months later back to the hospital and again the oxygen came home. Now he’s on it all the time and doesn’t need to be. He hasn’t left the house in almost 9 weeks, and I think it’s because he’s afraid he’ll go straight to the gas station for cigarettes! When I start up with him to take a shower, get up and move around he tells me to send him back to the hospital! He didn’t shower there either, but they gave him sponge baths. So now he considers sponge baths to be compatible with a shower.
The extent of our conversation is good morning and goodnight with hardly anything in between. I keep my distance because I’m not about to add nose plugs to my ear plugs! I’m at my wits end between this damn machine going all day and all night and the smell of him I’m just disgusted! Thinking of going out and buying him a carton of cigarettes if he smokes them outside the way he used to! Anything is better than this! Has anyone gone through anything like this?
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Have you checked his oxygen levels lately(with an oximeter)to make sure that he's getting enough oxygen to his brain? Because if he's not that could be a major cause of what's going on.
You can hire aides to come to your home to bathe him whether a bed bath or help in the shower as well.
And if you find that he's becoming more despondent, you may want to talk to his doctor about possibly placing your husband under hospice care. At least then they will send out aides at least twice a week to bathe him and it will be covered 100% under his Medicare. They will also cover his oxygen, any needed equipment, supplies and medications, again all covered 100% under his Medicare, along with a nurse coming once a week to start.
I may be jumping the gun with hospice, but maybe I'm not. I would talk to his doctor and see what they think.
Best wishes.
His mental health needs to be evaluated so you can find out what's really going on. He's not normal. And you shouldn't have to go to extreme measures in order to live comfortably in your own home.
People are being studied due to brain/cognitive changes that are believed to be the result of having Covid. Maybe that's his problem, so ask his doctor about it. The studies are interesting, and I personally know some participants. Read up on it.
From New England Journal of Medicine:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2311330#:~:text=Poor%20memory%20and%20difficulty%20thinking,may%20have%20lasting%20cognitive%20consequences.
From University of Cambridge in the UK:
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cognitive-impairment-from-severe-covid-19-equivalent-to-20-years-of-ageing-study-finds
Could be severe depression from stopping smoking.
Could be that he was deteriorating more than you know and is a good deal worse since his last hospitalization. They say people often stop smoking shortly before they DIE of smoking too much.
Could be lack of O2 getting up to the brain.
You have asked your hubby?
I think that perhaps a low dose anti depressant may be a great help here to help him bridge the gap. My best guess is that this is depression which often manifests as anger and withdrawal, but not knowing hubby or history it is merely a guess.
I would speak now with his MD. Good luck. Hope you will update us.