This has been a hard couple of days. Yesterday I went to pick up the parents to take them to the dentist. By the time we got there (about a 20 minute ride) dad was dozing in the front seat. I parked the car and went around to open his door and help him out. He woke up and was not the least bit coherent, looking all around like he was confused and not focusing on anything. He was obviously not in the present so I ran into the dentist's office to tell her that he wouldn't be coming in. It was difficult to get him situated back in the car because he wasn't able to help. I waited in the car with Dad while mom went in and got her teeth cleaned. He slept, fitfully until we got home. One issue is that he has a lot of saliva so if he is leaning forward he drools really bad, if he is leaning back he tends to choke on the accumulation. I kept looking over to make sure he was ok. He never fully woke up until we pulled up in the driveway.
We got him home and he was so out of it that he couldn't get out of the car. I called Katy to come help me. It took us both about 20 minutes just to get him into his walker so we could push him into the house. The whole time he is not focusing and not responding to anything. Once we got him into his chair we called 911 because although he has had these episodes before, they usually only last a minute or two. This was going on about 90 minutes at this point. I kid you not, 2 seconds before they knocked on the door he put both hands up to his head and snapped out of it. He was somewhat aware that he had been out of reality for a while but no idea for how long. The EMT's asked if he wanted to go to the hospital but he said there was nothing to be gained by it so after making sure his vitals were all normal they left. We were instructed to put his "do not resuscitate" order in an envelope and tape it to the fridge. They explained that there's a difference between 'treating' a problem and 'resuscitating'. They will attempt to treat a problem like choking, shortness of breath, but once a person seems to be gone, they won't try to revive them but they need to have the order in hand.
It's becoming harder as he falls more frequently. Although he was fine last night and sat at the table for dinner, he fell on the way back to his chair (yes he was using his walker). Terri said he fell twice today. This is a question his neurologist asks at each visit..."is he falling more frequently". Up until the last week or so the answer was always no. Terri said the second time he fell she had to "talk him back" in order to get him to help her get him up. She has a neighbor she can call and she can always call Scott who can get there faster than we can if she needs more help.
He said last night that Saint Peter was going to approach him one day soon and tell him "to pack your bag, it's time to report for a change of duty".
