Dad's in Hospital

I missed a phone call from my sister Julie this morning. I was at Church and had my phone on silent. I phoned her back as soon as I saw the message that she had left for me. I also phoned Vicki once I got home.

It turns out my Dad is in hospital again. He's bleeding from the bowel. Since it is the weekend there isn't much they can do as far as testing is concerned. They need to wait until tomorrow before they can check everything out properly.

They have him on a liquid diet at the moment and he is NOT impressed. I don't blame him actually. I would be unimpressed too. It makes it harder that he has dementia and really isn't coping all that well with being in hospital and being confined to bed. He likes to get up and walk around at home and potter about, check the letter box, sit on the veranda out the front, go out into the back yard or into the garage. Being stuck in a bed, let alone a hospital bed, would drive any one a little crazy.

Dad is going to be reassessed while he is in hospital. Vicki is terribly concerned that they wont let him come home and will want to send him to a nursing home. Both of my sisters are concerned that if Dad was placed in a nursing home he will give up and his health will go down hill if he wasn't able to stay at home. I think Dad just remembers what it was like when Grandpop (his Dad) was in a nursing home in the 1970's. Grandpop hated it and grumbled quite a bit. I am sure that Dad thinks it will be exactly the same for himself. Both Julie and Vicki agree that it wont be good for Dad and I can see my sisters point of view. It would do him more harm that good, right now at least.

Vicki is quite happy to keep helping Dad out as much as possible so that he can remain at home. As long as she gets the help she needs then that's okay. She needs to ask about respite and see if she can receive any extra assistance that is available. There will be a social worker coming to talk with her and Dad tomorrow. I hope Vicki remembers to voice all of her concerns and remembers to ask all the questions that she needs to. I hate to say that she stresses out a lot and gets flustered easily. Maybe I should have reminded her to write everything down before she sees them.

Now I just wait and I'll phone Vicki late tomorrow to find out what happened with the social worker, the assessment and the tests they will run.