What happened at the hospital today?

Mother has been on the waiting list for cataract surgery and has been anxiously asking how long she will have to wait, as her eye-sight has been clouding over. Watching TV and reading her favourite magazines were very important to her and becoming increasingly difficult to do.

I was contacted yesterday and told that Mother was finally on the surgery list for ten days time. She was required to attend the hospital for eye measurements and a pre-admission clinic today. So I decided last night to tell mother the good news that she finally was booked for surgery, and to keep the news of the pre-admission appointment for just before she needed to go. I knew that if I told mother about her appointment, the night before, she would be up 4:30am worrying about ‘what time she was going’ and have ‘would she remember to be ready’ anxiety. My strategy was to allow a restful sleep thinking her next day would be the usual routine. I did tell her that she would be having a pre-admission appointment sometime soon.

The day started as usual and mother happily went off to day-care. I told her I would be dropping in for a meeting later, which was true as the monthly carers meeting was in the afternoon. I rang the centre to inform the staff that I would arrive to take mother to an appointment later that morning, and ensure she would be there and not on an outing. This gave me time to collect all the medical history and medication information etc and fill out the necessary pre-admission forms.

In plenty of time before mother’s appointment, I arrived at day-care and told mother the hospital had made a pre-admission appointment for today and I would take her over now. Mother excitedly went off with me. We didn’t need to go far, as the Alzheimer’s day-care is in one of the hospital buildings.

We saw the medical technician first, who happened to remember mother from when she had worked at the hospital. Mother had numbing eye drops inserted and her eye measurement tests done after a preparatory explaination. Mother asked questions and was very happy to talk about her eyesight deterioration.  

We then walked down the long corridor and took the lift to the second floor where the pre-admission interview took place. Mother keenly shuffled along at a fair pace (a gentle stroll for me), and I joked with her that she was getting some exercise, offering for her to sit and take a breather if she wanted. But there was no stopping as Mother was on a mission. At last something was happening about her eyes!

At the pre-admission clinic, appropriate forms were checked, more were completed and questions were asked. Information on the surgery and follow-up was given and then time and date for presentation at the Day ward for surgery was given. The interviewing male nurse talked fast and mother giggled intermittently. I wondered how much information, or actually what mother was hearing. Lewy Body Disease often affects processing information heard. It can often end up received as a totally different message.  I was thankful to be there to hear and reiterate later as required. Then we left for the Laboratory and a blood test. Mother was taken in a wheel-chair to relieve her from a long walk back in the direction we had come. After the blood test, we went back to mother’s day-care and she ate a late dinner that had been kept for her. I went to the care-giver meeting and mother stayed for the early afternoon, and then went home with her usual transport.

After I had been home a while, mother seriously said she wanted to talk to me. I sat down and waited. Mother asked what had happened at the hospital, as her eye-sight wasn’t any better and she looked disappointed. I slowly explained that she had eye measurements for the replacement lens to be ordered for surgery and then she was checked to see if she was fit enough for the surgery. “But what happened to my eye? My eye isn’t better!” mother exclaimed. I repeated the information, emphasising that she had eye drops for the measurement test, then a pre-admission check. “You haven’t had the surgery yet” I said “it’s in preparation for surgery in December”.  Mother finally got it. “So you mean I haven’t had the operation? I thought I had the operation.” “No mother”, I gently said “did you see an operating theatre, were you in one? It was just some eye tests and lots of forms.” Mother sighed with relief as her eye was no better and she had thought the ‘surgery’ had failed.

Mother said later when settling for the night “I still don’t know what happened today. I thought I must have dozed off and didn’t remember having the surgery.” “No mother, you didn’t have the surgery” I said. “What were those drops for?” she asked again, “Just to numb you eye for the measurement tests” I said. She then chuckled “and it was just pre-admission” she finished.