Confusion

So I went to see mum last night. It was traumatic! She doesn't know where she is, she thinks the hospital is a B&B and insists there are all sorts of people there. She told me they had had a complete refurbishment that day. Nothing she said made any sense, it's the worst I've seen her. 

She doesn't remember she has had the op and has to have a nurse with her at all times. The staff have been fantastic but it must be a huge drain on resources. Dementia patients apparently suffer less with the pain, and she certainly has no problem thinking she can just get up and wander around! She is meant to use a frame but doesn't understand why.

She is having trouble processing what she sees. At first I thought they were simple hallucinations, but it's more like her brain just can't process what she's seeing and just makes something up, rather than inventing something completely. We had pigs, penguins, birds, frogs, and cats that eat other cats, all while she's trying to make sense of her surroundings.

She told me the thermometer was to warm your ear up so things worked better, and that there had been a baby in the bed opposite her. It's all very distressing. Mum was due a full psychiatric assessment at home on Monday. She won't be home by then so the matron has said that they will do it at the hospital.

Because she doesn't remember the fact she's had the op her recovery is going to be complicated. She won't be allowed home until she understands what she must and mustn't do. And when she does come home it will be very challenging. Mums nature is stubborn and independent, because she doesn't think there is anything wrong with her she does not accept help easily. It's going to be a long battle.