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So I posted the other day about having trouble with my stepdad refusing to allow my mom to go live in a long-term care facility. My mom ended up in a psych hospital after calling 911 four times in one night because she wanted stepdad out of the house. She accused him of cheating on her and mistreating her. (I don’t think either is true BTW.)


After three days at the psych hospital, they noticed she was slurring her speech and acting “off” and sent her to the hospital to get checked. Today, the hospital let me know the MRI shows a small brain bleed, right cerebral subdermal hematoma. They are performing a second MRI tomorrow to diagnose it as slow, progressing, or “midway.” It’s in the right cerebral area.


The doctor has already explained to my mom that she will need to be discharged to a LTC facility and not back home. LTC facility is what I have wanted since last year, so that’s good, but I’m worried it has to be a different one than the one we were planning on due to the brain bleed.


Anyone here have experience with this condition in their LO with dementia that can help me understand future care?

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A slow bleed is usually the result of a fall that happened a while ago or from a malformed blood vessel in the brain that "popped." The bleed puts pressure on the brain and causes the symptoms. If she is not on blood thinners, a surgical neurologist could evacuate the bleeding and stop new bleeding into the area. She will need rehab and time to see how much function she recovers.
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Reply to Taarna
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Remind your stepdad that since your Mom needs specialized care, it's not possible for either him or you to provide such. He can be her advocate and loved one and not her caretaker.
Let the hospital know which LTC you wish to have her placed in. The nurses at the LTC will review her information and let you know if they feel they cannot meet her needs.
Please talk to the neurologist doctor about what the prognosis could be. Coordinate for neurology follow up for your Mom after she is placed.
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Reply to JanPeck123
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mommatried: It should be noted that your mother should not, nor cannot return home.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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You can select the LTC facility you would like mom in. As long as there is room they can arrange transfer to the one of your choosing.
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Reply to Grandma1954
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You can choose which LTC facility you want and be sure and tell the hospital that is where you want her to go.
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Reply to Evonne1954
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Very sorry about your mom. This is grim. Your mom may decline mentally within a few months.
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Reply to Onlychild2024
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There are several kinds of strokes. Some are hemorrhagic and some are clot strokes. If the brain bleed is a stroke that is one type. If she fell and injured her head that is another type of bleed, but essentially a bleed is a bleed and it puts pressure on the portions of the brain the blood is taking the room up in. Sometimes a burr hole is needed if the bleed continues or worsens in order to let some pressure off. In other cases the bleed resolves itself. And this is something that is now a matter of time and watching.

This is certainly your opportunity now to see to it there is no question of a return home. Mom should be placed with the help of social workers and discharge planners and Dad needs to be told this is no longer a matter of choice, but a matter of mom now needing not just him, or just him and you and a few caregivers. Mom now needs the help and watching and management of several shifts daily with several people on each shift.

The answer to what deficits your mom is left with cannot be known now for a few weeks of watching what happens with time. I wish you the best. I do hope that a DNR is in place so that if your mom does pass there will not be the insult of attempting to resuscitate her. That would be, in my humble opinion as a nurse, a tragedy for all involved.

I am so sorry you are all going through this.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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