Alzheimer’s Problems: Another Night of Choking on His Phlegm
Tuesday, Sept 9, 2008 11:58 pm
Tonite was just the same as last night as far as Mr. Q choking on his phlegm. First it started when he was almost finished drinking his two small glasses of milk with Ensure or a similar nutrient drink.
He was just about finished with them when he started gargling and coughing. He was only drinking little sips, even smaller than a baby would drink. But for him that is a lot. Somehow he cannot drink a normal gulp like even a kid would drink.
After he had a mouth full of his drink he started spitting some out since he had not swallowed it and his mouth was filled with the milk. I rushed him out to the patio where he spit it all out along with a lot of slobber and mucus. He probably spit all the milk out.
He is eating extremely poorly so we give him as many liquids as possible. He refuses to drink water and eat most of his meals. A couple of months ago he was eating almost regularly once we prodded him.
At bedtime right after the spitting/coughing episode we took him to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Mr. Q is a total care resident and has been almost since he came here. From living by himself to total care in about six months.
That is real fast. Worst than that, he seems to have forgotten almost all the basic things as far as taken care of himself. We have to do virtually everything for him.
We spent a good half hour making him gargle and spit out as much mucus as we could. It is a struggle each time, which has been every night and sometimes in the daytime the past week or longer.
Since he does not know how to cough he cannot cough out the mucus which would clear his throat almost immediately. As a result, a lot of time is spent prodding him to gargle and spit out the water we give him to gargle. That is not nearly as good as coughing would be.
Finally after about an hour after giving him his milk (which he coughed out) and medicine we got him off to bed. Forty five minutes later he was heard uttering throat noises like he has been doing lately when his throat is clogged up. Up again and another half hour routine of trying to get him to clear his throat of phlegm.
Back to bed again. As I write this it is now 12:55 am and I am going to bed early. Tonite is not over so we will see if his choking shows itself during the early morning hours. Hope I can sleep through the night.
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