Hi there, Looking for answers about my Mom. The short story is she had Triple Bypass surgery on July 2 2020, had a very good recovery where she was walking and doing things on her own after a few weeks. August 18th she gets cleared to drive and go on about her life. August 17th was diagnosed with a UTI and immedialty went on Anitbiotic (Cipro) for 3 days...2-3 days later she has slurred speech and cannot put sentences together . We call nurse she said thake her to ER. Goes to ER and gets some antibiotics and then gets tested for possible stroke..everything comes back negative. Even tested for UTI and it was negative. The 5 days in hospital she gets weaker and cannot get up by herslef or go the bathroom or put her clothes on...and still a bit confused from time to time. Hopsital says she sems fine and we can send her to rehab center to get her functions back....now been 7 days in rehab with little change in her abilty to do things on her own. So is this still the affect of the UTI? or is it possible she had a stroke that was undetectible? Know one can seem to give us kids any clear cut answers...The last hospital I think saw just as an elderly lady that needs help yet 5 days before that she was waling around baking a cake with her granddaughter. Do people usually bounce back after getting rid of the UTI? we are all confused on what has happened to Mom in just a few days and now in a rehab/nursing home wher she is misaerable and not getting any better. Looking for answers....is it possble she never regains her strength back to take care of herself? I mean she survived triple bypass surgery and now just not the same.
Thanks
Scott
Mama ended up in a nursing home and went inexorably down hill for two more years and died at 101. At the last she still recognized all five of her kids but didn’t remember her husband at all, thought her parents we’re still alive, thought she still lived with them in her childhood home, got songs on her mind and sang at the top of her lungs, talked indiscreetly about sex, wheeled herself into other peoples rooms and climbed in bed with men, stole other people’s eye glasses, openly criticized the hairdos of the female staff and did a lot of other things that we have since come to think of rather humorously. Mama was the soul of Southern discretion and she was still wise enough to stay on the good side of the staff. At times she thought she was at the country club and formally introduced us to all the other out of contact people at the luncheon table. She would have hated to end the way she did, but, even so, kept her wits about her enough to one sunny day just peacefully grind to a halt.
My mother never wanted to die and we were so blessed that she accepted every stage of life with equanimity. Mama always said, “Every age has its compensations.” If your mother doesn’t recover, I suggest that you accept what has happened and find joy in all the things that made your mother what she was, understand that she is the same person, and make sure you and your siblings are at her bedside when she meets her maker. We still speak of her last days often and yet, after she died, she became younger and perfectly lucid again in our remembrance.
What with hospitalists and different hospitalizations, where no one knows the patient or her history, what is a DRASTIC CHANGE gets missed.
Scott, you pegged it exactly. She was simply another old woman coming in.
Bypass is serious. The speech slurring could have been for many reasons, even from weakness or dry mouth, but the most common reason is a stroke.
Many strokes are missed. CT scans rule out BLEEDS or hemorrhagic strokes; the reason they are done, as no blood thinners can be given to someone with a bleed. Scans are good at diagnosing bleeds, less good at strokes.
Something has happened and it seems to me it happened suddenly and had a profound affect. That could mean clot to lung or brain.
I don't know how old your Mom was when she had a triple bypass. Much new literature is suggesting they should not be done past a certain age because of risk of complication without promise of benefit, and that often medications work as well. As with all articles, they change every six months. As my old Oncologist said "It's anything but an exact science". There are amazing studies out there on depression alone after bypass. Literature abounds.
I wish you the best of luck, and Mom as well. It is just my feeling something has been missed, mis-diagnosed, gone UNdiagnosed. When I was in nursing patients were still followed in hospital by their own doctors. It was a different world, and even then with the patient such a wholely KNOWN person, each entered as a mystery to be solved.
At this point knowing what happened may not mean much about recovery. That will be what it will be now moving forward. I am so sorry for this setback.
I, too, was getting UTIs several times a year. Finally found a great Urologist who recommended D-Mannose. I take a maintenance dose of 1,000 mg 2 x day. As you said, I would give up my heart meds too for it as going through an UTI is a nightmare.
My dad had reoccurring UTIs
and one was antibiotic resistant.
Yes from my experience with my dad they can knock someone for a loop. Slurred speech , lack of appetite and lethargy.
I found my dad’s UTI’s accompanied
dehydration so ask about that too
My dad was totally independent up until he went into the hospital and later the facility. They seem to only look at what’s in front of them
They do seem to give up merely because someone is elderly.
To this day I feel my dad’s health issues could have been handled differently. The limited Medicare coverage seems to rule the nursing facilities.
After speaking with other families
it seems you have to fight hard for extra Medicare coverage. Most families are so knocked apart from the whole experience that they give up.
It is confusing. Just thinking it over here with you.
First you are told she has a UTI and then that she doesn’t? Did they run a culture? If she tested positive they should want to see which antibiotic would be most affective. If she tested negative, they usually don’t run the culture. Of course I suppose the antibiotic that was given cleared it up. Often they will start with an antibiotic while waiting for the culture results.
is she able to do the therapy in rehab? When you talk with the therapist can he show you how she has improved and explained the goals or is she actually getting worse. What does her data indicate I’m trying to ask.
And yes, people die from unchecked UTIs. And perhaps she was more vulnerable to this one due to just having the medical procefure. It does sound like a stroke. Did she see a cardio and a neurologist while in the hospital? Perhaps you could check into that. If she didn’t see a specialist, I would want that done right away.
I hope she’s better soon.
ScottyJ -- Please do what I did not do -- demand another culture and see to it that the antibiotic is actually given. I don't care who tells you, "You don't know more than the doctors and nurses, let them do their job," ignore those voices and be the advocate your Mom needs right now.
So sorry to hear about your mom. My mother had a similar experience in the fall of 2019. My mother has a history of cancer and CHF and was getting around on her walker when suddenly one morning, she experienced: head spinning, hallucinations , slurred speech and inability to sit up and walk. She was rushed to the ER and they ruled out a stroke and cancer spread. However, she did have a UTI and was treated with antibiotics. She was sent to rehab then home with additional rehab but was never able to walk again. My mother has been bed bound since and has been under hospice care since Feb 2020 after blood clots were discovered on both of her lungs.
With the exception of mobility frustrations and occasional dementia related symptoms, mom is doing much better under hospice care.
Hope this helps and that things improve with your mom.
I still have nerve pain if I overdo it, and I had a bout of profound fatique right after the contagion period was over.
I had an antiviral perscribed plus I has the older vaccine.
My mother took a good month to regain her stronger swallow and recovery gains back and a few months to feel back to where we were. Again when she acts this way now I have her potassium levels checked. 🙏🏼
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