A lot has happened recently with my grandma. She had stopped eating, drinking, and taking her medicines. She refused to bathe and clean herself up. My grandma had officially begun to give up trying to live. Because of this, my aunts, uncles, and parents had to step in and do something.
Everytime my family has tried to call 911 to take my grandma to a hospital, she refuses to go and unless you are gushing blood and on the verdge of death, the emt's won't take you if you don't want to go. With my family at our wit's end, my aunt decided to go and get a court order to force my grandmother to go to the hospital so she could get help. The judge granted her the order and my grandma had no choice; she had to leave the house. After checking her in and getting her settled in the room, my grandmother was in tears. She claimed that her kid's didn't love her anymore and said she was so angry that she didn't wish to speak to any of them. My Dad and my aunts were crushed because of this. They've done all of this out of pure unconditional love for their mother and she sees the complete opposite. My grandma even lied and told the nurses that her children abused her so social services had to step in and talk to my aunts who explained that she stopped eating and everything so my family was cleared.
After about a week my grandma still refuses to talk to my aunts and my Uncle Terry but apparently she's okay with my Dad and my Uncle T.C. now. When my Dad was on the phone with her, she was telling him that nobody loves her and that she's most likely dying of a broken heart because of my grandpa and his "girls." He repeatedly tells her that he loves her but it's gotten so bad to the point where she pretty much doesn't beleive anything you say to her.
The hospital's psychiatrist started doing some evaluations and says that my grandma is having not only severe delusions, but also hallucinations. He suspects her of having psychosis. According to PubMed Health, Psychosis is a loss of contact with reality, usually including false beliefs about what is taking place and who one is, while also seeing or hearing things that aren't there. But to be absolutely sure, the hospital psychiatrist recommended that she go to a psych ward in Baltimore to run more tests. The nurses there say she settled in fine and was doing okay so far; so fits or episodes...yet.
I have to admit I really didn't see this coming or seeing her illness become so serious. It's literally been like two months and that's all it took for her to go so downhill in her health. It's one thing to be sick and have arthritis or something but her sickness is in her brain and that's the worst part. Because how do you fix something like psychosis? It completely disrupts and alters a person's lifestyle by limiting so much and in an addition to her depression, it's really not looking so good. As much as I don't want my grandma to die, I can't help but think it's right around the corner.
References:
"Psychosis," PubMed Health, A.D.A.M Inc: 2012. < http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002520/>
I think this is one of those things that you have to admit to yourself (and your family) that it is something that cannot be fixed. But you all have realized something important: you cannot go it alone as a family, and that you had to get medical services involved in a more drastic way.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. I know it's hard to discuss, but I think you will be able to help so many people with this blog. This makes me think of my own family dynamics and really coming up with a plan for my mom with her and my sister so that if anything happens as she gets older, we'll be ready.