Well, once again my mother spent 5 days in the hospital. This time it was due to severe abdominal pain. When she is in hospital, all she does is sleep. She won’t eat at all. So she comes out quite debilitated. The doctors really wanted to tube feed her – either through the nose or directly into the stomach. I didn’t let them. At home mum still eats. Not much, but she eats. Today at lunch she ate some stew I had made. I mashed the potatoes and carrots up on her plate and put it all on rice and she ate it down and said it was good. So she still has a sense of taste and and enjoys what she eats. I just can’t see her with tubes though I know she is underweight. On Wed. I’m going to be talking to her geriatrician about this. It’s all very distressing!
Hi Dilys,
I’m really sorry to hear about your mom’s hospitalization and this recent ordeal. Those gastric tube feeding options are something that I even at 47-years-old am familiar with. For instance, I’ve had to have them more than 20 times since 1987 over the years, for abdominal obstructions that often required me to be hospitalized up to weeklong stays. I hated them, but they need to relieve stress on the pressured blocked bowel while ensuring that you can get nutrients and electrolytes, and not become dehydrated, via feedings done by I.V. at the same time.
Have your doctors identified the reasons for your mom’s abdominal pain? It could be as asymptomatic as Irritable Bowel Syndrome — which happens when all other possible problems are ruled out and which, although thankfully not disease-related, can be managed with medication and non-medicinal therapies. Thing is, abs pain can be many things.
If it turns out your mom is ok, ask your doc if she can take a medicine such as Dicyclomine — it has been a real life-saver for me as an antispasmodic which helps prevent such episodes. Also, lots of water and, if your mom can’t tolerate fiber supplements like Metamucil — the fiber is helpful for forming gel-like consistency that lets the food pass in bulk — try buying tasteless unprocessed bran flakes in the box, and sprinkling it on many of the foods your mom might be able to eat, like cereals, pasta, salads, etc. Also helpful are therapeutic approaches I swear by, such as decaffeinated peppermint tea, vanilla scent wall plug-in aromatherapy, holistic music as can be found on many cable television channel packages that you can play for mom at low volume in the background, or visual meditation CDs playing sounds like the ocean or summer rainstorms or rain forest sounds..
I hope this helped. That’s a good sign right there if your love in your food appealed to mom and she kept it down. The abs pain could have simply been her body’s mind-body-connection reaction to stress or fatigue related to her preoccupations about her current care experiencer stage of life. Keep us updated — and remember that the bad times always pass just like the good, so they will be followed by a period of refortifying and rest, plus more happy memories, for both your mom and you if you just believe in it and hang on.
Gary~
HI Gary, They seem to think mum might be having pain from her gallbladder. I’m putting on lots of classical music to see if it calms her down.
Hi Dilys, Oh, gosh, I read your post and thought, UGH!. What a roller coaster for both of you. You are providing such loving, diligent care. You really are amazing. Please keep us posted. I hope for a restful evening for all!