After the “panic” attacks night before last, Kate slept until 11:05 a.m. when I woke her up. I knew that the sitter was coming at 1:00 and that Kate would need something to eat before she came. It was clear that when she was up that she had not recovered from the night before. She seemed weak. I had planned to take her to Panera for lunch but hesitated because she didn’t seem up to it. I suggested bringing something home for her. She didn’t want that. She wanted to get out of the house.
We drove over to Panera. On the way over, it seemed clear to me that she wasn’t feeling well enough to be out. I told her I was going to take her home. Then I would bring something home. She agreed. I returned home with some soup. I was beginning to think that she had an upset stomach and wanted something that would not be too rough on her stomach. Kate didn’t want the soup.
I arrived home just before the sitter. I hadn’t told Kate the sitter was coming. I just said, “Mary is here.” Kate received her warmly although she was noticeably tired and or weak. She wanted to get out of the house. I suggested that all three of us go to Panera and that Kate ride with Mary and I would drive separately so that I could leave if it seemed appropriate. I got Kate a muffin. The three of us sat at a table for about 15 minutes. Then I came back to the house. It wasn’t long before Kate and Mary came back as well.
Kate was tired and went back to the bedroom and got into bed. I left to run some errands and meet a friend for coffee. When I returned, Mary said that Kate was resting but that she had been outside twice.
After Mary left, Kate wanted to go back to Panera for a while. We stayed there about 45 minutes before she wanted to leave. I asked if she wanted to eat. She did. We normally go out for pizza on Friday night, but I was uneasy about her eating pizza if her stomach was upset. She said she was all right and would like the pizza. We got the pizza. She did fine as far as eating goes, but she continued to look weak and said she was tired.
After getting home, she got right into bed. This would have been before 7:00. She got up around 8:00 and asked, “What now?” I told her it was beginning to get closer to bedtime and that it would good to get her night clothes on. She said okay. I got her a gown. As she was undressing, she raced to the bathroom and spit up in the sink. It appeared that she was going to throw up, but not much came up. When she left the bathroom, she got into bed and is still there. She did get up to go to the bathroom around 6:00 this morning but went back to bed.
I heard from the doctor who said she might have an infection. Yesterday I got her some Tums Smoothies and gave her a couple after she had spit up. Since she had no other occurrences during the night, they may have helped
I intend to let her sleep as long as she wants this morning. When she wakes up I am hoping she feels better.
This whole set of events is something very different from most of the things I have observed over the course of her Alzheimer’s. Yesterday I was wondering if this could be a sudden shift downward in her condition. Right now I am guessing that she really did have something physical that has affected her stomach and that interacted with her mental state which doesn’t permit her to respond in a normal way. She is confused and just knows she doesn’t feel right.
