A Caregiver’s Scare in the Middle of the Night

The Scare

As a new caregiver, one of my greatest fears is that something will happen to Gladys and I won’t know what to do or won’t know that something has happened.  On Sunday night shortly after 11:00 PM, Gladys had a seizure.  I was watching The Unit and heard a small, frail voice calling my name.  At first I didn’t think I really heard Gladys calling so I turned the TV down then I could hear that she was calling.

Gladys was sitting in a chair, disoriented, weak and her speech was slurred.  I thought she was having a stroke.  Fred called 911 and the paramedics arrived very quickly.  They checked her out and decided it was best to take her to the hospital.  Even though Gladys was disoriented, the first thing she asked was, “Can I have my teeth?”  She was not going to leave home without them.

The Emergency Room

The emergency room was very slow Sunday night.  As soon as we got there the nurses started working on Gladys.  Questions, blood work, x-rays and scans.  Fortunately, I had put a list of her medicines in my PDA because I found that a caregiver always needs that list of medicines.  Tests revealed that Gladys had a seizure.  She was treated and eventually released about 4:30 AM.

Football and The Unit

I’m always amazed at how things work out.  Earlier Sunday night I was fussing because NFL Football caused programming delays and The Unit did not come on until after 10:30 PM.  The Unit is my favorite TV show so I’ll watch it not matter what time it comes on.  If it had come on at 10:00 like it should have, I would have been in bed and probably would not have heard Gladys over the monitor.

Resting Well

Gladys is feeling better and resting well but on Monday she wasn’t back to what is 100% for her.  Her appetite was off and she slept most of the day, hopefully because of the long night before. I decided to keep Gladys at home today, instead of taking her to the adult day care.  I just want to be sure she is ok.

Gladys and Lexie, her cat, are constant companions.  When Gladys goes to sleep or takes a nap, Lexie is right there beside her.  I think one of the best decisions we made was to get her a cat to keep her company.

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