Hello everybody,
I haven’t posted here for quite a while because, frankly, I haven’t had much to post about. Mom has been in pretty good health and has been doing well. But last Thursday she fell and broke her hip. At the hospital they gave her some strong pain medication, which, combined with the anesthesia, gave her a serious case of “hospital delirium.” For 2 days she was having delusions and hallucinations. It was a frightening thing to see. Fortunately, the delirium is fading. Yesterday she was pretty cogent and seemed fairly focused on reality. But there is one delusion she is still clinging to. It involved her daughter-in-law and granddaughter yelling at her and trying to shame her—and then forcing her to take a bath. She thinks this all happened in the last few days, and says that she is “finished” with them.
I’m worried that this delusion will not fade and there will be a riff in the family over—literally—nothing. Do you think it would be a good idea at some point to talk to her about what happened to her and try to explain that this delusion is not really true—that it was a bad dream caused by the medication?
Thanks for your opinions.
My mother had the same issues when she was hospitalized with pneumonia for a week and then went to rehab for 3 weeks afterward. The hospital delirium was off the charts and awful to witness. After getting released from rehab, she got back to her old self in pretty short order.
Wishing both of you the best of luck moving forward.