Mom's latest stroke event on Sunday left her immobile and speechless that day. As always, and to my ongoing amazement, she recovered her speech and movement by the next day, although each function was just a bit more impaired. But this time, she returned profoundly depressed.
After sitting around with her for an hour, quietly inspecting the scene out the window (no point in talking--all conversational gambits met with 'I don't care'), I cornered her doctor in the hallway to come discuss med adjustments.
He entered the room with nary a greeting nor a glance in her direction, talking all the while to me about the difficulty of treating post-stroke depression. Even when I specifically asked him to include her in the discussion, he never once spoke or looked at her. I seriously considered the possibility that he himself was neurologically impaired so bizarre his behavior.
As he examined mom, remarking about her lack of breath sounds (had the man not read her chart nor examined her before?!?), my mom and I started making faces at one another. At least his visit lightened the day, along with the chocolate cake on the dinner tray and a couple of Advil for the stiff joints from sitting all day.
On searching Medline tonight, I find that post-stroke depression can be treated, and not just with cake and Advil. I don't know how anyone survives medical care without an advocate on their case.
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4 comments:
Sorry to hear about your mom. Wish there was an easy answer for all this business with our parents.
Do you know a Parkinson doc in denver that takes secure horizon? I'm a little disgruntled with the VA right now.
He use to have a private doctor ( Seeberger) that he liked very much but she moved. Then he switched to (Hall) and she doesn't take SH, never can seem to catch up with her at the VA.
Sad but true that we need someone to help us through the medical maze that our current healthcare seems to thrust upon us.
Best wishes for your mom's recovery.
I'm sorry your mom is depressed, I hope your research has helped you find something to help her.
I totally agree - it is essential to have an advocate for health care. And it's also important to have a doctor managing your overall care whom you trust and who listens to you.
Why is your mom seeing someone who appears to be so thoughtless and careless?
I've been struggling for months now to get my mom-in-law to swap from her current PCP (who didn't even comment, never mind help, when her blood sugar was up over 300 for months, and peaking at over 500!) and see someone who will at least listen to her, and see to it that she receives the proper instructions on how to care for herself with her complicated medical conditions. I admit that it's not easy to convince some of these elderly people to make the trade, but sometimes ... it really needs to happen!
I hope that your Mom's depression lifts, and that her doc gets out of geriatrics ... *cough*
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