Mom has been mostly sleeping since her last incident. My sisters and I have been trying to get more fluids in her as that seems to perk her up. I couldn’t figure out why the doctors wouldn’t just give her an weekly IV. I finally found out why.
As you get older, the heart muscle gets weaker and the ability to pump out excess fluid is reduced dramatically. If the heart can’t pump it out, then the fluid builds up and can cause congestive heart failure. So now I get it.
As I spoke with her doctor he said, “The problem is she can be hydrated one day and not the next.” It is hard to plan when to give an IV unless there is a medical professional present. So there is no win here. If mom doesn’t get enough hydration she suffers more memory loss, UTI’s and sleeps all day. If she gets too much she could have congestive heart failure. This is getting tougher every day on everyone.
