I Have Learned

Mom's feeling better today.  The infection is going away.  I am beginning to think that she had this infection for a long time.  She complained about a backache in her lower back.  I didn't read it as a warning that something was up with her kidneys.  Mom has complained about back pain for as long as I can remember.

A heating pad brought relief.  

My mom's hallucinations became an everyday occurrence, I accepted them as the new normal.  I have read a lot about Lewy Bodies Dementia, my mom has many of the symptoms.  Of course we'll never know for sure if it is LBD until she passes and we have an autopsy of her brain.

I have learned.

What I have learned is to pay attention to odd behavior, quick changes  I now know that a UTI can cause hallucinations, especially in my mom.  Put a kidney infection on top of it and she's surely a proverbial basket case, freaked out about what she's "seeing."

Hindsight is always 20/20

Looking in the rear view mirror of the past few months, I realize that my mom's infection was making both of us insane.  It sucked.  I cried a lot.  Now I know that when she has delirium, I need to have her blood and urine tested for a problem.  Antibiotics are helping, my mom even thanked me last night for all that I do for her. WOW!

I have learned that all medicine, natural or pharmaceutical needs to be treated with respect.  Just because something is natural doesn't mean it's good for you.  Same is true for the synthetic pharma drugs.  Both have a place and both need a professional to assist with the administering of the medicine.

I'm grateful that we have a Naturopath Doctor and Medical Doctors who work together through me to help my mom have more good days.  

My mom's kidney infection caused her to have elevated blood pressure.  REALLY HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.   It freaked me out, as it should.

My mom's hallucinations were intense for both of us.  I noticed that when her blood pressure was high she hallucinated.  If her blood sugar was high too, she'd be a colossal bitch.

Lisinopril for high blood pressure was increased so that it would lower her blood pressure.  Her blood pressure went up.  Her kidneys seemed to be having a bad reaction to the Lisinopril... was she rebounding on the pill?  Rebounding is when a med that you are taking begins to do the opposite of what it was initially intended to treat.

High blood pressure brought on the macular hemorrhage in her "magic eye." She will lose her vision in her eye that she believes allows her to see the dead, specifically my brother and my dad.  She's OK with losing her vision in the one eye, she has another eye that works much better for seeing reality.  She is also happy that even though she may not see my dad anymore, she can still email him.  The email notes make her very happy. I have learned.