It was a strange day at our house. I went in to check on my mom this morning and she wasn't in her bed. She has a hospital bed with side rails. Somehow she had fallen out of bed onto the far side of her bed. Thankfully she wasn't hurt but it is a concern of mine because I don't quite know how she fell. She hadn't been there long because her legs were still warm. I asked her what happened but she said she just slowly fell. I have had times when I have gone in and she had a leg on the side of the bed claiming that she was getting out of bed. One little problem is she really can't walk, at all. She can barely pivot anymore.
Thankfully Jason was here and he helped me get her back into bed. He said that he never realized how hard it was to actually lift someone who can't help with standing. I hope that this is just a fluke and that it won't happen again. I am not sure how to deal with it if it keeps happening.
Then this evening Benjamin fell. I picked him up and heading to our chair that rocks. As soon as I sat down it started to fall back. I was holding Benjamin and about to fall backwards on the tile. It was a strange sensation as I knew we would hit and I tucked his head to my chest so he wouldn't hit the back of his head on the tile. Jason was in the other room and heard me cry out. He came into the room and all he saw was the bottom of the chair and my feet sticking up. Neither of us were hurt so it was comical. Poor Jason then had to help me up becuase we were cornered and I am just too old to get up from that position carrying a crying, shocked baby. The mystery of the toppling chair was quickly solved. The two girls who picked up the family room had stuffed many objects under the chair making it unstable! You can imagine how much cleaning they will be doing tomorrow.
Although we did a lot of falling here today, we were able to get up from each incident without any injury. However, I do worry about my mom. I wonder if her dementia his getting worse. I sure don't need her falling and breaking something. I wonder if I need some type of strap to keep her in bed or something. I dont' like the idea of strapping someone in but she can't walk so it isn't as though she should be getting up. I guess that this is something for me to research.
There aren't any ways to strap an adult into bed without getting into trouble with aps, even if it is for safety. Do you have a bed alarm? If not I suggest getting one. Climbing out of bed and falling becomes progressive in dementia patients
ReplyDeleteWhat do they do in nursing homes for those who constantly fall? I know that I saw a lot of patients strapped into wheelchairs. I don't intend to strap her into her bed, I would worry that she could somehow choke/strangle in some type of contraption. What does a bed alarm do? I will have to look into that. I feel like the bed rail was not sufficient for her. Wonder if they have different types. She stayed in bed this morning, I don't think she liked falling out.
DeleteWhat a crazy time for you. I guess beware of stairs while the falling is going on!
DeleteIs it possible to raise her legs slightly/lower part of the bed (without negatively affecting her health) for the small periods of time when she is by herself? I'm just trying to think that if my legs were raised a bit, I would have trouble getting leverage to get out of bed. It would also keep her from scooting to the end of the bed where there are no rails. Of course, this is only for small periods of time and only if it does not then create bed sores on her lower back/buttocks. One could not do this for say all night or for even a few hours, as it would definitely put a strain on her. I have no idea if this would create ill health affects so I'd check with the caregiver/doctor first to make sure this would not go against her health. Sorry for the layman advice, just trying to brainstorm.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest a bed alarm.
ReplyDelete