That's pretty good, Cash!

Tim and I went to the hospital to see my dad, and it was rough. His mental state is really bad. Much, much worse than yesterday. He knew who we were, but he was extremely agitated and angry and exerting a lot of energy to try to get out of the restraints. He spent most of the time talking about and/or *to* the hallucination people, and that is not a thing I was prepared to see. (Well, I also wasn't prepared to see my Dad in hospital restraints because he's out of his mind. There was just A LOT.)

It's like he had a psychotic break, but the psychiatrist who's seen him twice says he doesn't think it's psychosis. I'm really just at a loss. Actually, the way he's acting is very very much like an alcoholic who's forced to go cold turkey. But when he went to the ER, they tested him for alcohol and the full panel of illegal drugs, and nothing was in his system, so I don't think it's possible he was secretly drinking and forced to go cold turkey.

The charge nurse said the next step is to do a lumbar puncture so they can get some cerebrospinal fluid for a culture, because they're starting to suspect there might be a systemic infection in his central nervous system. Which -- YIKES.

Unsurprisingly, Tim was so, so good interacting with Dad in his agitated state. He was really calm and friendly and just redirected whenever Dad got weird or angry. Although Dad didn't really get angry *at* Tim; he was pretty calm responding to Tim's questions and conversational tidbits. Tim's the goddamn Dad Whisperer.

OTOH, Dad was mean and nasty to me. And I get that he's ill in some way, whether it's mental illness or a physical illness affecting his brain. I get that he is quite literally not himself. But he is never, ever mean to me. That was hard to deal with.

{{{Teppy}}} What an utterly emotionally draining thing to go through. I am just so glad you have Tim for support. Fingers crossed that the CSF culture is able to pinpoint a cause and they can start treating it, so neither you nor your dad have to go through this any longer.

I just googled to see if any conditions mimic alcohol withdrawal, and found a case report about a man who had delirium from encephalopathy caused by sepsis; the sepsis was a result of an abdominal infection. Dad's case sounds very similar -- he clearly has encephalopathy (I read his chart) and is very anemic because he's been passing blood via his GI tract. If he's losing blood because of an abscess, it could be causing sepsis, leading to the encephalopathy and delirium.

Oh, Teppy. I'm so sorry. That's just so hard.

Oh, Tep, that must be so hard. I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry, Teppy. Grateful that you have the Dad Whisperer by your side. The delirium from encephalopathy caused by sepsis theory sounds very likely, but knowing that there is a medical cause doesn't do a lot to soften the blow of his lashing out.

eta: and wow I typed their instead of there originally and nearly caused you additional pain!

You have all my sympathy Teppy--it sounds a lot like what we went through with my dad. He did have a psychotic break as part of the progress of his dementia. We called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital. When we got there about an hour later they had him in a room, strapped down naked on a bare mattress, and none of the nurses would deal with him. He pulled off the clothes they tried to dress him in, and ripped the sheets off the bed.They agreed to keep him off the psych ward if a family member was with him at all times, so B, Mom, and I split the 24 hours so we could Dad-sit until they got a drug regimen in him that kept him calm.

It was Mom who had scary auditory hallucinations. It sucks dead hairy bears when your parents suddenly turn into strangers with problems.

Go on your vacation. Trust the medpros to handle the situation. Give your husband a grateful hug from a Buffista for being a mensch and shouldering some of the load, and spoil each other silly while you're on your trip.

Go on your vacation. Trust the medpros to handle the situation. Give your husband a grateful hug from a Buffista for being a mensch and shouldering some of the load, and spoil each other silly while you're on your trip.

Absolutely! What the wise woman said. Steve had that type of psychic break when he was ill and his lashing out at me was nearly unbearable. The doctors made me leave and his friends took over the visit watches to spare me some of it. Thankfully he didn't remember after it passed. Knowing what it was helped, but not completely.

Separate post to send most sincere happy birthday wishes to dear Karl! I hope you happen by to see that we are thinking of you and hoping that this is a delightful year for you.