Sheri's note to Doctors and Nurses
Dear Nurse or Doctor, I have the utmost respect for you and your dedication to helping people, so please take this in the spirit it is intended.
I do not understand why when I try to be proactive and tell you my husband has moderate Alzheimer's and that he will not be able to answer your questions, such as how long have you had this cough, and is it productive, or what is your birthday, why do you continue to try? His chart must confirm his diagnosis? He is uncomfortable and stressed in this new environment and as a caregiver it is frustrating to see their anxiety heighten unnecessarily. I do understand not ignoring the patient, or acting like he is invisible, but maybe that could be accomplished by saying things like I am sorry you are not feeling well Mr. fill in the blank, do you mind if I ask your wife some questions,we are going to help you feel better.
This is new and uncharted territory learning to handle communication with Alzheimer patients and every patient is different so this is not meant to challenge your professionalism, maybe there is some requirement I am not aware of. This is just personal feedback from my personal experience thank you Nurse or Doctor for all you do.
Sheri hates this disease.
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I have experienced the same issues and it's very frustrating. My husband was recently in the hospital after surgery. He had surgery a year ago and even though I told everyone about his AD they acted as if he could answer his questions or remember to use his pain pump. This time I was more vocal and stayed with him the entire time. I found the staff to be more aware this time and not to expect him to provide necessary information. He still didn't remember he had the pain pump, or to push the button when he was in pain. I too hate this disease. Thank you for you blog. I find so many similarities and try to gain your positive outlook.
ReplyDeleteSandy, so sorry you going through this too :( last time Bob was in the hospital I stayed the whole time too,,so draining. Thanks for the feed back on the blog too, we are in this together :)
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