Mum in hospital after fall and dislocated shoulder worried about her progress

So sorry to hear about your mum .
Morphine and codeine do make you want to sleep a lot. I would speak to her consultant and ask if the medications can be reduced or changed so mum can be more awake and eating better.
Hopefully she will make a good recovery soon . [Flowers]

Sorry to hear about your mum. It’s probably the strong pain medication - for your Mum

Please be careful everyone - most of us over here are over 65 I would assume.- I’ve tripped a couple of times this past year, just because I though I was in my 20s and ran to get out of my pyjamas , when I saw a car pull up on the drive. I tripped on the clothes airer and had a nasty fall. 8 months later, my shoulder still hurts.

My mum rarely takes any medication other than paracetamol - strongly averse to taking drugs. Could be the drugs are having strong effect on her. Worried that she is hardly eating as I don't want her to start going downhill.

Am going to speak to the nurses tomorrow and hopefully doctor in charge of her - been difficult keeping up since she has moved ward three times and each time handed over to a different staffing. Some continuity would help.

I do feel for you , I had similar experiences with my Mum . Hope you get answers tomorrow when you speak to nurses/doctor. Don'tbe afraid to voice your concerns . A hospital stay for very elderly people is very difficult and they often become disorientated. It's a very distressing time for you and I know you are thinking about her welfare all the time and trying to manage your personal life. I wish your Mum well and I hope you are taking care of yourself. 💐💐

Do keep us posted . Good luck.

What happened with your mum Shelflife?

So sorry to hear about your mum and I can understand your worry. It does sound as if it’s the drugs making her tired. If she’s not used to taking anything stronger than paracetamol, the drugs you mentioned will have really affected her.
Morphine affects everyone differently. My mum had many falls and lots of hospital stay's,
morphine used to make her so confused and sleepy I didn’t recognise her.
Hopefully they’ll keep her in one place now because moving them around at that age doesn’t help at all. Please let us know how she gets on. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

My Mum was falling and on one occasion she fell in the bathroom and lost consciousness. Ambulance called and took details over the phone and in their ' wisdom's concluded she had vertigo. It took about 4 hours to arrive and paramedic confirmed it was ' just a bout of vertigo' After scans I was told she had a stroke. During her hospital stay I had to push hard to get any information about her condition I felt they simply didn't care ! She did recover fairly well after that ,sadly died a few years later. I just wanted to ask you to trust your instincts regarding your Mums care. After this initial hospital stay Mum was admitted again and fortunately it was a far better experience for her and me! Please don't be afraid to question.
Although the years have passed I miss my lovely Mum every day. 💐💐

Thank you everyone for the advice and kind wishes.

I am going to see her this afternoon (have been away working for 3 days). My brother and nephew who are local have been visiting each day but they don’t ask questions and take things at face value. I am like my mum and like to get to the bottom of everyone especially where the NHS are concerned. If mum was not under morphine/codeine she would probably be discharging herself as we speak…..

Will keep you posted

I can remember the shock of falling and dislocating my shoulder and banging my face. It was excruciating.
Does your Mum have anyone to look after her at home? It takes a while to recover and it's difficult to do anything. I wasn't admitted but couldn't complete many tasks for a few weeks afterwards, my arm was in a sling in case it dislocated again. Even getting dressed was difficult.

I hope she isn't discharged too soon.

Sending best wishes

I saw mum today and she was awake, having a little supper and drinking water like there was no tomorrow. The nurse said she was doing much better today and they were encouraged. She is off the codeine and taking her usual paracetomal for the pain - she sustained a slight fracture on her shoulder.

However, my relief at her improvement was quelled when the consultant call me and my brother out whilst they took my mum for a scan. He advised that she has a serious urine infection (sepsis was mentioned) which so far is not responding to the antibiotics. He may call in consultants from intensive care to advise alternative treatment … but he warned us that she might take turn for the worse at any time. My mum suspects something is amiss and I could only tell her about the infection and that the doctors are trying to treat it - which is true - but am feeling awful about doing that in an effort to not unduly alarm her. Asked her if she wanted me to stay with het for the night but nurse said not to do so - they only permit it in crisis situations. Just that before mum went down for the scan she said she was scared and did not want to die - have never heard her say that before - I had to reassure her that she was being looked after and it just a scan.

My brother is totally matter of fact and unemotional about all this but I cannot take these events in this way. If the worst comes to the worst I don’t want it to happen without me there to hold her hand if you know what I mean. - I can’’t break my promise to be there for her.

Am going to see her again tomorrow and just hoping for some better news….

I hope you get better news today.

drbledu23, I'm sorry to hear about your dear Mum. I just wanted to let you know that when my husband was very ill with sepsis which was not responding to the usual antibiotics, his treatment was
'escalated to Tazocin' ( that's from his discharge letter) which made all the difference. I hope your Mum gets a suitable treatment soon.

So sorry to hear your latest news. I think you’re right not giving your mum the full information she needs to concentrate on eating and drinking. At least the Dr is aware of what’s wrong so hopefully they’ll be checking her obs carefully.
Good luck to your mum. Hope the antibiotics start to help.

Please don't worry quite so much. Your mother can be hydrated and nourished intravenously whenever she needs it.

Morphia is a wonder drug! It's side effects are well known by doctors and nurses.

Geriatric wards perhaps have a poor image, but there are good reasons for specialist wards . Aged (geriatric) patients usually have several chronic health conditions that need treatment or alleviation all at the same time and this is what a geriatric ward is good at.

"The worst comes to worst" presumably you mean she dies. At her age she must know she will die quite soon .Please reassure her she is getting all the care from you and the hospital that she will need . It's probably not reassuring to try to tell her she is not going to die.

Well I went to see mum today and she was awake, talking and more conversational and making efforts to move herself in the bed - until she realised her limitations……

I had a chat with the nurses about what had happened yesterday and they seemed surprised since my mum’s notes from recent tests had been overseen by a consultant in the ICU who advised that there were no unduly concerning ‘infection markers’. They did some more bloods and tests and took my mum down for another CT scan on her pelvis today and will look at the results for further treatment.

Quite a bit of company for mum today - me, my nephew and an aunt and cousin - mom seemed a bit fatigued by it and she is very depressed. We are all trying to encourage her and keep her spirits up.

All in all not the day I was expecting. Keeping my fingers crossed for improvement.

The older we become, the longer it takes to recover.

The shock of this will take its toll and time to get over.

Went into the ward today to see mum and she wasn't there - they had moved her to another ward and not rung to tell me. You can imagine what went through my mind!

She has been handed over to a new team and the new doctor called me in for a chat to update me on what they are doing. Turns out that my mum doesn't have a urine infection and that the antibiotics they were administering were not strong enough. Doctor says that she has pneumonia infection but they are hopeful that the new anti-bios will do the job - although at my mum's age it is an up and down procedure and you have to monitor from day to day.

Did manage to get her to eat today and take some drinks (Ribena seemed to do the job). Even had a little chat with her about her grandfather clock ... but she was pretty tired with the infection and having been moved and messed about with all day by yet more doctors and nurses. Staff seem nice enough and I have their reassurance that they will keep me updated with any developments. I can call in to the ward and check at any time.

Just hoping for the best but cognisant that it could be touch and go.

Oh this took me back to my mum being in hospital. The times she was moved wards without telling me , I could write a book !
I’m sorry they’re moving her so much it is very unsettling for them. Also we seemed to loose a dressing gown in the process. I stopped buying new ones, she just wore a cardigan.
Compared to our experience you sound to be doing really well as in speaking to Drs and nurses my experiences were very different. I’m pleased they’ve identified her infection and hopefully now she’ll be on the correct antibiotics. Good luck to your mum and you.

Do hope things improve for your Mum , I am well aware how stressful this is for you. I had always wanted to be with my Mum when she died , she moved from living with us to a nursing home. I had been with her for a few days when a nurse told me how exhausted I was and suggested I went home to recharge. I did and yes you guessed it she died in my absence. Apparently that is not uncommon, so if that does happen to you do NOT beat yourself up about it! In the mean time ask questions, ensure she is given the very best care and don't be fobbed off just because she is 92. Thinking of you 💐💐

drbledu, I hope your mum gets back to her old self soon, it must be such a worry for you and a shock for her too, It takes a bit longer to recover the older we get ...sending get well wishes to mum...

when we went into the nursing home and they had moved fil it used to give us a jolt, he had dementia and was noisy at night so often had to be moved to allow others to sleep. you are getting some information which seems quite informative and seems they know which way they are going, do look after yourself as well. hope she is home soon