Per my Mom's PT, for every day she stays in bed all day, she loses a week of progress/ability.
Insist on therapy 5x week at home. The sooner and more frequently she has therapy, the more ability she could regain. Tell them to focus on core strength the most; nothing gets better without core strength. You want to avoid falls; once that starts, imo, it's downhill due to injury and FEAR of falling again. However, we noticed that with each hospital stay, Mom never fully returned to her previous ability. Our over confidence in her improved ability actually made us less mindful and her more vulnerable.
She is 97, walking is a bit challenging at that age under the best of circumstances.
I would encourage her to walk as much as possible, obviously as safely as possible, to increase her strength. Keep in mind that she may have come to the end of her strength and she just doesn't have anymore to give.
You say in your profile that your mom could barely walk before this all happened, so of course staying in a hospital bed for any length of time will only weaken her ability to do so now. Plus she has her age against her as well. When my husband went into the hospital for aspiration pneumonia, he was walking slow as a turtle, and falling a lot, and after his 2 1/2 week stay with almost dying, he returned home completely bedridden, where he remained for the next 22 months, until his death. So don't be too surprised if she now will be able to do less and walk less than before. Might be time to be thinking of placing her, as it will be much easier with her going straight from rehab to her new home, than trying to place her later from your home, or her home, where ever it is she is living now. I wish you the best.
Flowerpots Your mom had trouble walking before per a previous post. UTIs are debilitating and toxic. When you said she went to the bathroom every 15 min on another post, I’m thinking she may have had the UTI then. A UTI can cause an acceleration of dementia like symptoms. We had mentioned that the gait is affected by some dementias. Being in bed for any length of time can weaken an elderly person. If their strength has left them, they are more vulnerable to falls. So there are many reasons your mom might need help with being able to ambulate safely. I sure hope she is feeling better now that the UTI has been treated and that she is up and walking soon.
A UTI in older/elders can cause many different things including weakness in mobility.
Not only the side effects from the UTI but also from the medications for them - the hospital stay etc and it can take some time for them to recover.
My mom (who is a stroke survivor) almost always has no symptoms such as fever etc. but due to her brain injury she has even reverted back to not being able to swallow as well and battles delirium with UTI’s.
Usually after all medications are finished and she is cleared (with a follow up urine test 7/10 days later a- as it can take a few rounds to clear them) she regains her normal strengths back within a week to a few weeks. She usually receives therapy afterwards to help her get stronger and back to her baseline.
Not sure if your mom has any cognitive or memory issues but UTIs are hard on the brain as are the antibiotics for them so they do usually need some time to regain their strengths. So give her some time - though I have seen some mention their loved ones haven’t recovered fully after infections and may have a new normal - I have also see my mom recover fully each time. Continue to have hope - wishing her the best recovery🦋
UTIs can do a number on the elderly. To be in rehab she had to be in the hospital at least 3 days. I was told after a hospital stay it takes 3 days of therapy for each day in the hospital. At her age, she may never bounce back fully.
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Insist on therapy 5x week at home. The sooner and more frequently she has therapy, the more ability she could regain. Tell them to focus on core strength the most; nothing gets better without core strength. You want to avoid falls; once that starts, imo, it's downhill due to injury and FEAR of falling again.
However, we noticed that with each hospital stay, Mom never fully returned to her previous ability. Our over confidence in her improved ability actually made us less mindful and her more vulnerable.
I would encourage her to walk as much as possible, obviously as safely as possible, to increase her strength. Keep in mind that she may have come to the end of her strength and she just doesn't have anymore to give.
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When my husband went into the hospital for aspiration pneumonia, he was walking slow as a turtle, and falling a lot, and after his 2 1/2 week stay with almost dying, he returned home completely bedridden, where he remained for the next 22 months, until his death.
So don't be too surprised if she now will be able to do less and walk less than before. Might be time to be thinking of placing her, as it will be much easier with her going straight from rehab to her new home, than trying to place her later from your home, or her home, where ever it is she is living now. I wish you the best.
Your mom had trouble walking before per a previous post. UTIs are debilitating and toxic. When you said she went to the bathroom every 15 min on another post, I’m thinking she may have had the UTI then. A UTI can cause an acceleration of dementia like symptoms. We had mentioned that the gait is affected by some dementias. Being in bed for any length of time can weaken an elderly person. If their strength has left them, they are more vulnerable to falls. So there are many reasons your mom might need help with being able to ambulate safely.
I sure hope she is feeling better now that the UTI has been treated and that she is up and walking soon.
A UTI in older/elders can cause many different things including weakness in mobility.
Not only the side effects from the UTI but also from the medications for them - the hospital stay etc and it can take some time for them to recover.
My mom (who is a stroke survivor) almost always has no symptoms such as fever etc. but due to her brain injury she has even reverted back to not being able to swallow as well and battles delirium with UTI’s.
Usually after all medications are finished and she is cleared (with a follow up urine test 7/10 days later a- as it can take a few rounds to clear them) she regains her normal strengths back within a week to a few weeks. She usually receives therapy afterwards to help her get stronger and back to her baseline.
Not sure if your mom has any cognitive or memory issues but UTIs are hard on the brain as are the antibiotics for them so they do usually need some time to regain their strengths. So give her some time - though I have seen some mention their loved ones haven’t recovered fully after infections and may have a new normal - I have also see my mom recover fully each time.
Continue to have hope - wishing her the best recovery🦋