Hubby and I live with and care for his mom, who is 91 with advanced dementia. (Already took care of deceased dad, so this has been an 8+ year project). We assist with most things, including wiping her after toileting, during the day. The problem occurs at night, when she goes on her own. She is currently mobile with walker (if she remembers to use it). She takes a small amount of laxative daily to keep things moving, which in turn causes feces to expel during most toileting events. Oh the joys! Anyway, at night she is either not remembering to wipe herself OR attempts to, but in the meantime, "cling-ons" are falling onto the floor, which she then steps in (unaware of course), and tracks back into the bedroom and into bed. Most mornings, I am wiping up the floor and collecting soiled laundry if necessary. We are currently enjoying uninterrupted sleep, but being greeted in the morning with some level of filth is getting tiresome. I set up a camera in her bedroom (one that is triggered by movement so not viewed until next day). Recently she had a blowout in her diaper during the night, which caused her to remove it, leave it on the bathroom floor (but out of sight, out of mind so she didn't know what happened to it), then she sent back to bed WITHOUT WIPING, which resulted in feces smeared inside her nightgown, ya da ya da. The humorous part was she knew something wasn't right, but couldn't figure it out, so she proceeded to make, then re-make her bed in the middle of the night. It wasn't soiled, thankfully, but she was obviously rattled enough to get side-tracked to make her bed. I think she eventually went to bed, can't remember ... sigh! Anyway, any suggestions regarding toileting issues in the night? I hate to stop the laxative entirely because her intestines are herniated in her pelvic area due to the Dowager Hump from osteoporosis, and doctor doesn't want that to get backed up. Thank you in advance!
I imagine you have likely tried tweaking her laxatives already, but what about using the PEG every other day instead of daily? If her diet is reduced it isn't necessary for her to go every day as long as it doesn't become too dry and hard. I know with my mom it seems to be all or nothing, but for a while we had success with the PEG every other day and an added laxative like milk of magnesia or senna every third day to get things going. Of course when she hasn't gone in a week I am longing for the times she was going constantly, it is so hard to find the right balance.
Hopefully someone else may have some ideas. And in the meantime good luck with your experiment!
Anyhow, I'm sorry for you. Nothing like waking up to a poo mess:(