Wednesday was a nightmare I wish I could forget. It was immeasurably worse for Zoe and unimaginable for Gerry.

A slight recap — this really started almost two months ago when HomePlace, the Alzheimer's/dementia care facility that Gerry was living at, didn't take the time to make sure Gerry was getting her meds. She was getting aggressive and they sent Gerry to the Senior Behavorial Center at Sedro-Wooley. It was done as an involuntary admission. This meant that the State of Washington now had control of where she went (Zoe still has to pay the bills.) Staying at Sedro-Wolley is only for two weeks max to stabilize her meds. Unfortunately, they didn't try to get her back on the meds she had been taking but put here on different meds. She was calm enough after two weeks that HomePlace took her back. Unfortunately, the new meds amped her up and pretty soon the verbal aggressiveness came back and when HomePlace sent Gerry to the ER at Whidbey General 2 1/2 weeks ago they sent her with a note that she couldn't return because of the behavorial problems. For the last two weeks the doctor at Sedro-Wooley has been adjusting her meds.

When Zoe last posted on Friday we knew there was a possibility that she might be transferred to Western State Hospital south of Tacoma since Gerry wasn't really getting much better. We had no control over this. That is a 2 1/2 hour one-way trip for us. With Zoe's health problems, that is a trip we can't make very often. Zoe's concern was that Gerry needed family to visit and we wouldn't be able to do that if she was sent to Western so she called her brother in Iowa and he said if worse came to worse we could send her to Iowa where they would be able to visit. The social worker at Sedro-Wolley said that we could do something like this.

4:30 Sunday morning we got a call form Zoe's brother (7:30 Iowa time.) He said that there was not any way he could take his mother. He had a lot of excuses and would not listen to Zoe as she tried to tell him that this wouldn't be a financial burden on him. He thinks that Gerry doesn't know who anyone is and that she will just be sedated and it wouldn't make any difference where she is. He was afraid it would impact his retirement. We were on our own.

Early Sunday evening we visited Gerry. She was much worse then when we had visited her on Wednesday. She could not walk and it took two people to lift her out of the wheelchair. It was very troubling seeing her like that. One of the problems was that they couldn't find anyone to take Gerry but at last Birchview Manor, also in Sedro-Wooley, said they would so we checked it out after seeing Gerry. It was a very nice place. It would be a 1 1/2 hour drive to visit here but that would have been possible. We went home very encouraged.

Monday we were told that she was definitely going to Western State Hospital and that Birchview wouldn't take her. She was on a waiting list for a bed. Tuesday we told that she would be picked up at 8 Wednesday morning and would be arriving at Western State Hospital at 11.

We left a little after 8 and pulled into Western State Hospital, just south of Tacoma, a little after 11. We walked into the ward and saw Gerry. That's when the nightmare began. Here speech was terribly slurred and it was like she was on speed. She was a totally different person. We were horrified. Over the next couple of hours we met with nurses, a social worker, a doctor (internist), and a psychiatrist. They were great. It was clear to the psychiatrist that she was way overmedicated which would account for some of her behavior. It was so disturbing watching her like this. When they were taking her to the bathroom her legs were very sensitive to touch. The doctor was afraid that might be a sign of a blood clot so he arranged for her to be sent to a nearby emergency room. That is when things went from bad to worse. By this time Gerry was getting very agitated and started yelling at everyone and was starting to hit people.

By the time we got her into the ER she was totally terrified. Zoe and I were there but she was resisting any kind of care. She was yelling and hitting. They had to restrain her wrists. Then she started screaming. Yelling for help and letting out these primal screams over and over again. She would calm down for short periods and try and negotate her release with me and then Zoe and then start resisting and screaming again. This went on for over an hour until the second dose of Atavan finally calmed her down and she went to sleep. At that point Zoe and I left and got back to the Island after 9 in the evening.

Yesterday we got the results of the ER tests back and she is a low risk for a blood clot. It's probablly arthritis.

The positive side is we were impressed with the people taking care of her (except for one) at Western State Hospital. There is hope that they can get the right meds in her that will control her behavior and still let the Gerry that is left come out. When we were in the ER 2 1/2 weeks ago, before they sent her to Sedro-Wooley she, was smiling and joking. She was still talking gibbersh but it was clear that there was still some Gerry left inside. We hope we can get back to that point. It may be that part of this is a progression of the Alzheimer's. Through all of this Zoe has been fighting for her mom. She has been writing emails and making phone calls. Tuesday night she was up late writing a 4 page history of Gerry for the doctors at Western. On the way down she was writing in the margins and on back adding to it. The staff at Western was ecstatic to see it. They want to see the big picture of their patients. So often all they get is a couple of pages from another hospital and that's it. There is no family for many of their patients. If they can get her stabilized we will be able to mover her back into a care facility that is closer to us. We can only hope. I'm sure Zoe will be posting something in her blog about this and I will link to it when she does. Until then, she has this short post.