More Computer Trouble

Suspected Scammer Taking Over My Computer

The morning of July 26th I went in search of a missing piece for my new Mac computer--getting Microsoft Office installed. On the Internet I found a service  which reported to be experts who could help me get Office installed and they took over my computer remotely with my permission. What did I know? Best Buy Geeks said that I needed to get someone else to use the codes on my discs to credit it for a Mac and put it on this computer.

The chat began late morning and to protect myself I copied our chat when my new Mac computer was taken over by this group and put it on a note. Then I emailed that chat so I would have it on my Notebook computer.

To start Jerry gets my first and last name, my home number, cell number and my email. I told Jerry about the two PC discs I have, but need it on a Mac. Twice he asks me if I have a place to install the discs and twice I tell him the Mac Mini doesn't have that.

Jerry: Are there other computers connected to this computer in your network?

Carol: No, but I do have a PC Acer Notebook that has this 2007 installed on it and I would like to send files to that Notebook computer. I use it to do Power Point presentations.

Jerry: Thank you so much for briefing [me] on your issue. From here we will take care of this issue and fix it for you. I am going to look for reasons why you are facing this issue and possible solutions. Please let me check your MAC for a while. May I?

Carol: Thanks so much, Jerry.

Jerry: You are welcome.  I am going to look for reasons why you are facing this issue and possible solutions. Please let me check your MAC for a while. May I? [He repeats himself] . . . Carol, I tried to download but there are some errors in your Mac stopping me. Let me show you. [He shows items in red.]  Can you see the errors in your computer?

Carol: Yes, you pointed to them.

Jerry: Yes, These are the corrupted registry files & they could be causing the problem with installations ports in your Computer. These registry files might have corrupted the associated driver and the communication ports for your computer. They might have corrupted and starting to multiply to other programs in your computer. There seems to be serious issues with your computer that needs immediate attention. Some of the registry issues need to be fixed or it might result in computer crashes and the data loss. I can fix it manually for you.

What do I know about all of this? Have viruses followed me to this MAC.  Also, notice the These is capitalized. He could have copied and pasted this. 

Carol [weary for a month of hospital visits, my fall, computer viruses, no water, and pending biopsy not to mention my husband's decline]: great

Jerry: Alright [sic], May I know when you did the last clean up of errors in your computer manually by a Certified System Engineer?

Carol: Oh no! I have had this since Tues. I got it because the PC had viruses and Trojans on it and I think this Mac should have fixed everything. This Mac Mini is brand new with my old stuff installed on it.

Jerry: I understand, Did you transferred [sic] any files from your old PC to the Mini mac.

Carol: Best Buy did that for $99.

Jerry: As a certified professionals we would not like to comment on any third party applications or security software. The Network ports of your computer seems not to be secured enough to block these infections.  Since you transferred your old files (affected files) to your MAC this could happen.  .  .  .  Threats can enter in through a small loophole too, within the first 4 minutes on internet usage. If this goes on for a long time without getting the problem fixed, chances are that your computer could easily crash and stop working altogether.

Should be "infected", among other corrections. 

Jerry: Carol, Are you following me.

Carol: Yes in tears because I thought with a Mac I was not going to have Trojans and viruses as easily if at all.
. . . .
Jerry: Once I fix all the issues on your Computer  . . . I would suggest you to go for the long term as there are several issues on your Mac.  . . . We will be your dedicated support for all your MAC needs anytime with your subscription.

I remind Jerry that I bought certified Best Buy Geek support for three years and this would be a duplicate coverage. 

Jerry:  As a certified professionals we would not like to comment on any third party applications or security software. 

He has repeated himself. Now Jerry is pasting in that same sentence with the a c______ p_______s error. It is his canned speech. 

I foolishly buy this service and then am able to be offered a refund later--stay tuned. Bank of America credit card will get me out of it by 72 hours if it is not deleted by this outfit. 

Enter Valentino who calls me someone else--Thomas. 

Valentino: If you have the key for the Mac computer we will install it now.

Carol: I never told you I had a key for a Mac computer. You should have read carefully. This is a scam to get my money.

Valentino: We are certified professionals. We resolve all kinds of Technical issues.

A Lewis was brought in and while I attended to my husband, someone wrote for me to someone else right on my computer!!! Taking over my computer while I was out of the room!  As I had told them, I had to leave to take my husband to the doctor to check his knee that had put him in the hospital earlier in the month. I typed that "I am very upset" and that they could call at 6 pm. At the doctor's office on my iPhone I get an email receipt from their services and I reply on email from my iPhone: Might dispute this. False information from [your techs] who didn't read what I wrote, and took over my computer.  .  .  . We will see if [you] can deliver what [you] promised before [you] took my money. 

Thank the LORD 
the doctor said 
my husband's knee is healing nicely. 

Shortly after I got home they did call and I complained. Soon a tech was back on the phone saying they would give a refund. A confirming email followed with a ticket history note at the bottom that I had gotten irate and thought they were scammers and had disconnected the phone. No indication that I had left to go to the doctor's office.

Tomorrow is Sunday, a day of rest. 

I need it. Thanks for your prayers. 

At Hospital Again

Picture of Redman Room 312 Added Later 

Things had been going well for hubby, although I noticed he had less energy on July 4th when we went to a movie and lunch with Sally and Jake. Yesterday was a great day at home. Hubby watched and enjoyed his usual DVD and TV movies. I worked on two quilts--one for a grandson of hubby's and other one as a late gift for Sally.

Last night when we were going to bed hubby called me. His knee was out. He was sitting on a chest right by the hamper and I expect that he had just taken his socks off and twisted his knee. That right knee looked out of shape. He has had a problem with it before.

Somehow we got him into bed and he slept well, but this morning, although the knee looked better, he could not walk on it and would not get out of bed. Kenny came over early and got him into the chair by his bed. At noon Kenny came back. About four hours later Kenny and another neighbor got him into the car so I could take him to Plant City Baptist Hospital again--almost like a repeat performance.

Since he hadn't fallen this time, there would be fewer tests. Dr. B. on call in the ER examined the knee, heard the history and said he may have a meniscus injury. An MRI would pick this up, but they don't do this in Emergency. They are checking him out for a UTI.

Will update in comments below..

--Carol from my notebook computer

Another Hospital Trip



Picture of sitcom from link below

I got one of those cries this morning from the bedroom:

I've fallen and can't get up.

It was 6:30 am approximately and sure enough he was on his rear end. I put in a text to my back yard neighbor Kenny who came over. I got on the computer and canceled substituting for the day. Two hours later hubby was in a non-emergency ambulance on the way to Plant City Baptist Hospital ER again.

I drove to ER and I went into ER Room 7 with my iPhone and charger and had friends all over praying. I texted hubby's adult children. I posted a status on Facebook. I texted people who do not do Facebook. I chatted with Facebook friends who play Words With Friends with me on the iPhone or on Facebook. Kerry from church put out email prayer to every one at church.

Again many things were checked out. Hubby had a head scan which is standard procedure for falls with seniors and he hadn't fallen because of a stroke. Xrays revealed that there was no broken bones. His urine was checked and not another UTI, although I didn't think so because he wasn't acting like he had in April. Near noon hubby was released to go home. A nurse helped get hubby into our gas guzzler car--so high up.She went to get someone else to help.

Nurse: How will you get him in the house?

Me: That’s why we came to the hospital.

At home hubby deboarded the car and used the walker and painfully made it to a spot on the couch where I usually sit which has a pullout for elevating one's feet.

Left spot has leg elevation pullout,
Right spot is hubby's Archie Bunker spot.

Later in the afternoon, hubby longed for his Archie Bunker spot. He got stuck at the end of the pullout which we can't get to fold up. There was about an hour of debating how he would get up. 

My husband has a favorite spot across from the big TV like Archie Bunker had above  in the 1970s sitcom. See Archie's chair HERE.  Archie's  son-in-law Mike "Meathead" once broke it, or once sat in it, etc. This sitcom chair was legendary and I believe is in the Smithsonian. Even though hubby could have been comfortable watching TV with his leg elevated at the left spot, it was not his spot opposite his special coffee table with all his stuff. He felt he had to move.

Kenny was not home because he was volunteering elsewhere as an Alzheimer's caregiver, but Kerry had kept in touch with me by text and had her husband Dave come by after his work to help hubby get up and over to his spot. In addition to the walker Dave helped him use crutches which I happened to have to move the few inches. Now teaching someone with Alzheimer’s something new like the use of crutches is difficult. Thanks, Dave.

It was time for bed and Kenny's brother-in-law came over to get hubby off of his spot and into bed. Unlike the whole afternoon, however, suddenly hubby was able to walk. I think it was the magic of his Archie Bunker spot which he insisted on sitting in and of course the prayers of you all who knew of this ER trip. And the ice and the elevation somehow made hubby's right leg better and this morning he is walking. I wondered why in the ER they didn't elevate and ice right away.

This brings up the point of falls and avoiding them. I have put a chair by the bed where hubby fell yesterday and he has accepted this change of furniture. He still has an ace bandage on his knee to remind him of the fall and limps a little.

Chair by bed for safety,
Almost looks like Archie's chair.

Interview With Our Amazing Volunteer Caregiver

Kenny Sexton lives with his extended family on the property in back of us. That property used to be owned by the first owner of our home, and there are barns and two dwellings there. At one point this property used to have a rodeo as pictured above.  

Various people have rented back there and now Kenny and his extended family live in dwellings (not shown) back there. Even though they are right in back, to get there I would have to jump the fence or drive back there on a dirt road a house away from us. No longer. As I wrote earlier, Wayne has installed a single gate to join the properties.

Kenny Sexton is a younger man on disability who now, despite his disabilities, volunteers to check on my husband while I work, using that gate. I finally had a chance to interview him on his great service to us.

Carol: How and why did you come to take care of my husband?

Kenny: We were talking with each other over the fence and I told you what I had done in the past and volunteered to help you if you needed help.

Carol: I remember thinking that this summer I could introduce you and my husband and see how it went. Never did I realize how soon I would need you. Things went faster than expected and while my husband was in the hospital, Wayne installed the gate making it easier for you to come to the French doors at the back of our property.

Kenny: I realized you needed help right now because he was more confused and you couldn't leave him alone. His doctor wanted to put him in a nursing home and I didn't feel this was the correct decision.

Carol: I didn't know what we were going to do, but was so glad that you were stepping in to volunteer. Tell our readers how you gained the insight into helping Alzheimer's care receivers.

Kenny: There was a time in my life when I ended up in a nursing home and I observed Alzheimer's patients because I lived with them.

Carol: You enable me to leave the home and not worry about my husband because you are checking in on him. You will see that he gets his morning pills and then text me that he has had them.That one Saturday night when hubby would not get off the John, I called you and you came right over and advised me what to do, and helped me get him in the car so I could take him to emergency again. Why do you so willingly give of yourself to be there for us now? 

Kenny: You know, Carol, I feel that God moved us here for a reason and part of the reason is that I get up in the morning so I can serve you all. If I wouldn't be active, I wouldn't get better myself and not be listening to what God has said to me. 

Carol: This is such an incredible blessing to me right now. THANK YOU, LORD! How have you approached working with my husband? Give us an example.

Kenny: I try to be respectful in working with your husband. I don't want him to feel that I am looking down on him. I try to give him his space. One day when I was fixing his lunch, a BBQ sandwich that I warm up and give him along with his yogurt and coconut oil fudge, he said to me, "I could get used to this!" I knew then that he appreciated my checking in on him. 

Carol: Before you came, I would come home and his cold sandwich, yogurt and coconut oil fudge would still be in the refrigerator and he had not had his morning pills. We both have trouble getting him to take his morning pills. How do you do it? 

Kenny: I tell him, If you take your pills, I will go ahead and leave. Then he would take them right away and I would leave out of the back of the house chuckling to myself.

Carol: We learn how to deal with them by trial and error. When I couldn't get him to shave one evening, in disgust I left the house and texted you. Do you remember that evening?

Kenny: I called you and told you that sometimes we have to get out of the situation.

Carol: I was so relieved that you said that. This was still when he was recovering from that nasty UTI infection and I feared we had a worsening of the Alzheimer’s.

Kenny: When do you think you might make the decision to put him in a nursing home.

Carol: I am not ready for that and actually have a fantasy that he can live here all his days. However, as I interviewed Dolores, Latane and Dana on this blog, these fine ladies taught me that it may happen someday. I have seen others in my Alzheimer's Association Support group who were able to care for their care receiver with the help of Hospice. The LORD will be there for me. I am assured of that and try to live each day knowing that the future is in His capable hands. He gives me encouragement along the way, such as a happenstance Christian caregiver right in my backyard!

Kenny: How has having a husband with Alzheimer's enriched your life, or has it been a detriment?

Carol: First, Kenny, even though I am semi-retired and in my 60s it has forced me to grow up in so many ways. Financially, I have to plan. Time management. Simplifying our home which I blog about with The House That Cleans Itself. Taking care of my own health by diet and exercise. I have a thyroid scan next month and now am off of thyroid medicine until that test. I monitor my blood pressure. When hubby was going through his UTI my blood pressure shot up to 144/95. Early this morning it was a wonderful 101/62. Also I value my faith with meditation on God's Word, prayer and disciplined intercession for others.

Kenny: I see that you genuinely care about your husband and struggle with the upkeep of the house but do well. I also see how you bridge the gap with youth with your tales of your rapping when you substitute teach. I think this blog you have been writing may help others as well.

Carol: Thanks so much for letting us interview each other on my notebook computer around the dining room table with hubby watching old movies in the same room. I look forward to the next interview of you on your health issues.

I am now off to substitute teach this afternoon. When I come home, Kenny will have popped over to check on hubby. Thank you LORD, and thank you Kenny!

Back to Hospital



Cranberries Are Good for UTIs


I have a different husband than I had last Sunday, but I have to remember that the prognosis is good.

Saturday hubby was napping in the morning, hardly ate lunch, napping in the afternoon, hardly ate dinner. Hubby was weak, his pulse fast, and he was going down hill.

At 8:30 pm Saturday night I contacted Kenny and asked him to help me get hubby in bed. Bur rather than just get him in bed Kenny gently urged that I take hubby back to emergency and helped me get hubby into the car so I could drive him there. Kenny has seen these problems before (I will interview him in another post). Hubby went through similar tests for the next hours until the culprit was discovered about 11:30 as a UTI or uninary tract infection.

For several years I have been following the Bob DeMarco's Alzheimer's Reading Room which often warns of a UTI, or a uninary tract infection. Many times older people get it. Carole Larkin herself has written here about it and has Bob when his mother would get it. They are treated with antibiotics such Bactrim, Septra, Larotid, Moxatag, Furadantin, Macrodantin, Ampicillin, Cipro, and Levaquin. Hubby was prescribed Macrobid 100 mg. oral capsule 100 mg twice a day. Another pill to get down him!

More women get it than men do but if a patient has diabetes it is common. My husband has diabetes and he is less ability to say how he feels.

I looked up information about it and discovered that this may be a continual problem. That National Kidney and Urologic Disease web site [http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/utiadult/#tract] said:

Men are less likely than women to have a first UTI. But once a man has a UTI, he is likely to have another because bacteria can hide deep inside prostate tissue. Anyone who has diabetes or a problem that makes it hard to urinate may have repeat infections. . . .Most UTIs are not serious, but some infections can lead to serious problems, such as kidney infections. Chronic kidney infections—infections that recur or last a long time—can cause permanent damage, including kidney scars, poor kidney function, high blood pressure, and other problems. Some acute kidney infections—infections that develop suddenly—can be life threatening, especially if the bacteria enter the bloodstream, a condition called septicemia.

Something was mentioned in the emergency room Tuesday night about hubby's kidney, but I did not catch what they were saying. I am concerned and of course will follow up with a doctor visit.
MedicineNet.com said:

There can be many complications of urinary tract infections, including dehydration, sepsis, kidney failure, and death. If treated early and adequately, the prognosis is good for most patients with a UTI.

Meanwhile today I am just plain tired and discouraged. Had wanted to go to church or just to Skype church, but I missed the call for Skype and went back to sleep. Hubby needs to shower and shave if we go anywhere and he is motivated for nothing.  He will get better. Going to take him to the doctor early in the week--if I can get him there--motivated to get in the car.

Me? I don't know what to do with me. Huge test of faith again. "Do the next thing," someone once said. I am trying to decide what that might be.

Hubby in Hospital--Part Two

DH:  When can I get out?

Me: When the doctor says so.
DH: Where am I now?
Me: You are at our wonderful Plant City South Florida Baptist Hospital.
DH: I am going to leave in my hospital gown.
Me: No you are not. We both had to come here because we were bad. I swallowed your pills by accident in December. I was a bad girl and I had to come here. You did not take your pills on Tuesday or eat all day and you were a bad boy so you came here. [See post here when I took hubby's pills.] I needed to know if you had had a stroke also. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Margaret Thatcher had stroke this past week. Hubby had been able to stick out his tongue, but he was very confused Tuesday afternoon. I couldn't chance it and as I wrote in Post One, I drove him to the emergency room where he was also checked for a urinary infection. 

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE.
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

That was Tuesday night and Wednesday the more food we got down hubby the better he walked, went to the bathroom, etc. But still he did not have his "walking papers". His socks were red, rather than green--the hospital code for walkers and non-walkers.


DH: Carol, you live in never-never land. I can leave now. [Techically this is true, but not wise for him.]
Me: They have to release you from the hospital.  
DH: I can walk out of here.  
Me: Right! Walk out in your hospital gown and they take you right to the funny farm!  

I watched carefully the nurse as she assisted him walk to the room bathroom and instructed him how to get back into bed. I quizzed the nurse on taking pills with the apple sauce. You don't have to open the capsules or crush the meds. You just put them in the apple sauce and they soften that way for several minutes and then he eats the apple sauce with knowledge that he is also being a good boy taking his pills.

From the Alzheimer's support group one gentleman sent me this email I read from my notebook computer on Wednesday:

So sorry to read about your Hubby. I didn't look around when you left to see who came. That must have been horrible for him sitting there all day. Strange someone did not pick up on what was happening. I sure hope things work out for him to the good. I will read the blog to stay up-dated. You take care of yourself too, Carol.

I also wondered why the Senior Center had not called me Tuesday.

Yesterday in the hospital I was in touch with family and friends on my iPhone and notebook computer. I read email on my iPhone. I read blogs on my small computer. I played Words With Friends and updated those people on my husband with the Words With Friends chat box. I texted family and friends. Hubby kept wanting to know when he could go home and kept talking about our dog. He had no idea about all my technology that kept me occupied when we weren't talking and I was answering the same questions over and over again.

Finally near 6 pm Wednesday night the neurologist came. This specialist asked my husband questions such as what was the year, what was the season and where he was. I am on planet earth, he said.  He flunked all answers. The neurologist said he would review the chart and see when he could be released.

They have had my body long enough, hubby said, but he would not be released Wednesday night and I headed home.

When I got home I put the port-a-potty thing below we had in the attic from hubby's heart attack in 2004 on his bathroom toilet, now making our home even more Alzheimer's ready.


Handles for getting up and down.
He might as well get used to this.  

During the day Wednesday I was so pleased to see that a family friend had put in a gate to connect our property and our back yard neighbor's property for new help for my husband. This gentleman also fixed another gate I had bent backing up our gas guzzler some time ago. Such a blessing and he will also mow our 7/10 acre so I don't have to nag my husband about the lawn or have him accept a woman (me) mowing a lawn.

This morning. Our dog objected to my getting ready to leaving him again, but I told the bright dog I am going to see "Daddy" and he stopped barking and I head again for the hospital. I had seen that Dallas, TX Geriatric Care Manager Carole Larkin had posted a comment below on Part One of Hubby in Hospital on this blog.  I took Carole Larkin's professional advice and checked on my husband's admission to the hospital when I got there this morning. He had been admitted.I got to see his primary care physician briefly. He would go home.

When I got to his hospital room he was eating his food without coaching! Perhaps he had learned his lesson which I would repeat again and again now also explaining why he would have a volunteer caregiver Kenny visiting my husband when I was working. Hospital staff wheeled hubby to our car and we left the hospital.

Kenny came over to our house this afternoon and we went over procedures. Kenny will use that new gate on days I leave the house to see that my husband gets up, has his pills in his apple sauce, has breakfast and has lunch and has enough water and other liquids.

While Kenny was here our friends Sally and Jake came over and brought us dinner and Kenny was able to meet Jake who may stop by sometimes while Sally runs an errand! Jake was here last Saturday when I taught all day.

Multiple blessings. I have had help for fences, for lawn mowing, for advice from the nurse and from Carole Larkin and now have an magnanimous volunteer such as neighbor Kenny. Thanks for dinner, Sally and Jake also--delicious salad from Bob Evans.

I just think this whole experience has shown

wonderful answers to prayer

and thank all of you who have been

praying and helping.

Hubby in Hospital--Part One

Yesterday morning I picked up Jake and drove Jake and hubby to the Senior Center where they spend Tuesdays. Jake finished his breakfast in the car but hubby still had his breakfast and had not swallowed his pills in the car. With the air of a staff sergeant I brought hubby's breakfast and morning pills into the Senior Center. Later in the day I would attend the 2 pm monthly Alzheimer's Association Support Group at First Baptist and either Sally or I would pick up the husbands.

Sally took care of a sick grandchild yesterday and did not go to the support group. She picked up our husbands about 3 pm. She came to the support group with the grandchild leaving the two husbands in her car and said that my hubby was not himself. He had not taken his pills, not eaten his breakfast nor eaten the Senior Center lunch. He had sat at the center all day. Jake was very concerned as Sally was.

I left the meeting and Sally drove hubby to where our car was parked. It took some coaching to get hubby into our car. When we got home I decided to take him to the front of the house rather than through the garage where with all the junk there and the step up to the family room. I figured easy access to the front door and no step up was the best route to his easy spot by the big screen TV.

However, hubby was not getting out of the car. I feared the worse--a stroke, although he could stick out his tongue. I called his primary care physician's office and proceeded to the emergency room at the hospital where I had gone myself last December in an ambulance.  I could get him there quickly myself without waiting for an ambulance and having to pay some of the ambulance cost that insurance doesn't cover.

After the four plus hours, the emergency room staff ruled out a urinary tract infection or a stroke. I requested  food for him and finally some came about 8:30 PM. He ate only a little--the only food all day. He had some apple sauce and a little bit of turkey, and a taste of jello.

The decision was made to admit him for further observation. I drove home last night so ready to cry. With melatonin from the health food store I was able to get maybe six hours of sleep and I came back to the hospital with this notebook computer where I am typing now and with my iPhone and its charger for contact with people outside the hospital. So glad you can use those devices in the hospital now.

The nurse came in this morning to give hubby his medicine.

Nurse: Give me your name and your date of birth.

Hubby had some trouble with these two instructions. I explained to the nurse that she asked him two questions and he only responds to one idea at a time.

"By law you have to give the date of birth when I give you your medicine," my husband's nurse said.

He was able to give his name and date of birth finally with one question at a time. 


Me to the nurse: What if they have dementia and can't give you their date of birth?

Nurse: I keep going until they can answer something-- maybe they can give the year.

Me: He can't give you that. (He will just cover himself by saying that he doesn't bother with those details because he can check a calendar for the year.)

She proceeded to give him his medicine in apple sauce! I have to try that!

APPLE SAUCE!

The answer for the Pill Pusher me!

In order to be released, my husband needs to see the neurologist. Also, he is really shakey on his feet.



pottery dog, apple sauce



Perhaps hubby is going into a further stage of Alzheimer's. Out of ignorance or bliss I considered my husband in the first stage of Alzheimer's. Stages are different for everyone. Last year a nurse and reporter had contacted me to use hubby as proof of coconut oil. The reporter said I wasn't giving him enough, however, but whatever I have given him I feel has kept him fairly functional for a long time (since December of 2008).

Hubby kept asking: When was the last time we were home? When can I leave this jail? He told the nurse, I have seen you for two weeks. (He has no concept of time now.) I bring a ceramic dog to the hospital and he has this nicknack on his chest, reminding him of our dog.

I am sleepy here at the hospital. Going in search of coffee or caffeine. Thanks for your prayers, folks.

My Horrible Rabbit Trail Leads to My Hospital Trip

Still on Home Computer When I God Home from Hospital

I got the wrong pills--I took my husband's pills!
I do not need his diabetic, strong heart and Alzheimer's medicine. I do not also need his Centrum Silver for Men.  I discovered what I had done as I started to feel very bad. His pills for Tuesday were missing and mine were still there! I Googled how to vomit. Warm salt water didn't work. I did vomit, but I passed out in the bathroom.

Yesterday was a day that Jake and hubby were going to the Senior Center for the day. Sally and Jake came over right away, but not before my husband called 911. I praise DH for his quick action. He had called in his own emergency before.  I could hear the 911 phone conversation and that it was difficult for an Alzheimer's patient to answer questions from the 911 operator. He got frustrated, but somehow he got through to them that his wife was having a medical emergency.  

Soon a big truck pulled up in the front yard--maybe fire engine, maybe the ambulance. Ziggy barked at all the activity and apparently kept running around I am told. Parametics asked me all kinds of questions when they arrived. I was on my way in the ambulance to Lakeland Regional again like the trip I took October 12th. However when my blood pressure dropped more in the ambulance, I am told, I passed out. They woke me up and said that the ambulance was taking me to Plant City Baptist Hospital, a closer facility. I guess low blood sugar and low blood pressure will do that to you. And yes I felt very sick!

And embarrassed! Folks, I have not learned the lesson of going on a rabbit trail. I must have been getting my husband's pills ready and thought of something else. (Didn't I confess this last post about me and rabbit trails!)  Apparently I didn't put his pills in his usual cup and thinking I had mine in my hands I took them all!

The Queen of Scatter Brains here!

Lessons learned include to keep our pill boxes in separate places so this will never happen again.  I have bought new ones that look different. Hubby wants to keep his new ones by the couch where he watches TV. His watch says the day of the week and he can match it with the day on the morning and evening pill boxes. He seems more interested and responsible for his pills now--at least I hope so.

Thanks to the wonderful hospital staff, my doctor, and people who prayed. Blogging friends--Barb, Martha, Jane, Laurie, Living on Less Money-- all contacted me on this blog's Facebook "LIKE" page you see at the top and told me they were praying after I posted there. Special thanks to my husband's family and Sally and Jake.

The hospital stay was a little over 24 hours and near the end this morning flowers came to my room from a hospital volunteer welcoming me to my stay just as I was getting ready to check out.

Humorously my doctor gave me these instructions this morning when she saw me early.

Mrs. Johnson, I am sending you home with instructions to only take the pills I have prescribed for you.

There was another welcome when I came home. The trash bags in the front yard were gone!

Short Hospital Stay of Caregiver

I had a short hospital stay Friday morning through Sunday afternoon. It certainly wasn't planned that I be taken to the hospital and leave my caregiving responsibilities.

So what happened to me you ask? Hubby is still able to stay home by himself and I set out Friday to substitute teach. On the way I realized very suddenly that I needed to vomit. I pulled over to a Ford dealership and upchucked, hoping that was the end of it. Not to be. I arrived at the school and vomited in the parking lot. I got up a little strength to walk with my purse into the office and say I was sick and couldn't sub. I headed for the staff women's bathroom. My stay in that bathroom included vomiting and passing out. I found myself on the floor with a headache and realized I might have a concusion. I got myself up and the room was spinning. After a bit I opened the door and said I needed a nurse. The nurse called 911 and I was on my way to the hospital in an ambulance. Needless to say, I didn't care at all whether school kept of not! But I did care about my husband and in my weakened state told people "I am an Alzheimer's caregiver". By Friday afternoon I was out of ER, had a room and Friday night I knew I was on my way to recovery, including eating dinner. Nurse assistant DaDine thoughtfully gets an iPhone charger for my cell while I slept Friday night; this had to be borrowed from staff who worked at night and loaned it to me for several hours.

I had not purchased a bracelet that says I am an Alzheimer's caregiver.  (I have seen these, but hadn't gotten around to ordering one). My husband has one that says he has memory issues and he wears it all the time.

HUGE THANKS to family. Hubby stayed with his daughter. The step-daughter, her husband and daughter graciously took on caregiving responsibilities including hosting both hubby and the dog during my hospital stay of over two days. Our car was retrieved from school.  Naughty dog Ziggy, however, taught the host dog how to chase their cat while he stayed there. 

Hubby's cell phone is misplaced again in the last 12 hours and he notices it early this morning.  He did use it to call me on my cell at the hospital. After the stabilizing me in ER, I went to a room where I was able to use my new iPhone to call him. Somehow he got through the short-term memory problem and was able to visit me in the hospital on Friday thanks to his ex taking him there. Saturday morning he woke me up at 6:15 AM on my recharged cell:  

Where are you?

At the hospital, Sweetheart!

Oh that's right!

Hubby had forgotten that he had seen me in the hospital on Friday. Our routines were disrupted. He called often during Saturday saying he missed me. I realize again how important that caregiver (me) is to the loved one. You are the one, even with other family around.

This morning early his cell phone is missing. He is very discombobulated that his cell phone is missing and wants to go get another one ASAP. This morning he is going over and over his loss and asking how many cell phones he has lost. How many cell phones has Ziggy taken? he asks. Coping is hard for the Alzheimer's loved one who is trying to hold on to reality.  That cell phone is a big issue this morning. I have him wait until 7 AM to call his daughter. Sure enough it was in a box with the dog food just where she said it was last night. I had not seen it the first time I unpacked his things.

So glad I can stay home today to get us both back to "normal" or "the new normal". But I do know that life will never be normal again. Just so thankful to the LORD that we are both home.  

Get those shots. Saturday night in the hospital I had my yearly influenza shot and got my pneumonia shot that all of us over 65 need to get. Perhaps my trip to the hospital could have been avoided had I received those shots. Why knows!  

Cuddos to Lakeland Regional Medical Center where my treatment was so excellent--doctors and nurses. I had a SYNCOPE and a SYNCOPE HYPOTHERMIA along with the vomiting. I was cold in ER! My white blood cells were elevated from vomiting and I was fighting something. Scans  revealed that there was no internal brain injury from the fall and no heart issues. My electrolites were off. I thought I had avoided treatment for GERD by watching what I ate carefully. But now I have a prescription for OMEPRAZOLE  to be taken for 30 days and I will take it. People with GERD should not be vomiting at all. It throws us off completely.   

Boredom sets in Saturday and Sunday. I was better. My charged cell phone helped entertain me on Saturday and dutifully I stayed in my room and interacted with my roommate. The sign on the TV said:

Thank you for remaining my your clinical area during your stay at Lakeland Regional, and allowing your health care providers to monitor your care and recovery. Leaving your clinical area for reasons outside your treatment is considered against medical advice and you may be discharged. Please help us to provide you with the best health care experience possible. Thank you.

I became stir crazy and wanted to get back to my husband and get him home. I walked the halls in "my clinical area". Through my iPhone I posted updates on my Facebook LIKE page for this blog during the day Saturday.  I entertained the troops with the two raps "Get Me Out of Class [the hospital]" and "Boredom Games" I deliver for good classes when I substitute teach.  I promised a few staff that  I would post those raps here and I dedicate them to those wonderful staff at the hospital we put smiles on each other's faces.

"Get Me Out of Class"

[the hospital]

Get me out of class
Gotta get a pass
I’m a student you can trust
Getting me out of class I must.
Let me get some water
I’m not your son or daughter
But I will be your teacher’s pet
I’ll always help you out
—you can bet
It’s right outside the class
Don’t have to write a pass
So let me get some water
(I will roam the school halls
Or maybe the nearby malls.)
But, oh no!
You don’t give water passes?

Hmm . . .
I have to pee can’t you see
But so much liquid I just bloat
And I have a doctor’s note
So much pee I may float.
I have to be a finder
I left my school binder
I left my purse
I have to see the nurse
Can I go to my locker?
(Really I want to play soccer
I want to go find that jerk)
Please --it’s just a little perk!

Get me out of class
Gotta get a pass!

"Boredom Games"

Paper toys

Boredom ploys

Sunflower seeds

Don’t want to read

Don’t want to heed

Or do a good deed

But a boredom game

May get me fame

Or bring me shame

Those boredom games.

Let me make a popper

Lots of ploys in the hopper

Shooting rubber bands

Making beats with hands

Let’s play football

Make it out of paper

Or fly a plane

Just a little caper

Chewing gum

Think I’ll hum

Or twiddle my thumb

Have a little gas

I can fart for a laugh

I’m not the only one

Who has to have a little fun

And my work is done

A boredom game

Won’t get me fame

Might bring me shame

Those boredom games.

God is good. Now where did I put MY glasses! Might be at Denny's where we had supper last night!