So they say my Grannie has Alzheimers. I'm not sure how you can know for sure - she definately has dementia problems, but doesn't do the "strange" things or say the "strange" things that alzheimers pt normally do. Mainly she is just loosing her memory, and ability to reason - nontheless - my question is not really about her disease as it is about a malnutrition concern. Over the past year, her appetite has diminished. She is not 'dried up on the bone' --from her size she looks healthy, but I swear if she takes 10 bites for the whole day, we are lucky!! She has no appetite, she has lost her sense of smell/taste, so food does not appeal to her at all. we do manage to get her to drink about 1/2 of an ensure drink per day. Other than that and a few drinks of water / juice here and there - she basically doesn't eat enough to keep a kitten alive. Last night I was there and trying to get her to eat (she took 3 small bites), and so I took her BP because she has a history of hypertension, and I could NOT HEAR it at all. I took her pulse - and it was 81 bpm, so I tried her BP again, thinking I wasn't paying attention, and I could not hear it again. Now I am only a 2nd semster student, so don't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet, so I'm asking could this be because she was dehydrated? I did the skin turger thing, and it did not immediately retract, but did not stay tented - it just was tented for a second, and then went back down.
My grannie has told me numerous times she's ready to go, and she does not want to end up in nursing home, so I am actually hoping she goes one night in her sleep (she wants to die at home). If she continues not to eat much - could this weaken her heart? What signs should I look for - like if she was fixing to die?>? Don't get me wrong - I will be so heartbroken the day she passes on, but I know her wishes, and I know the time might be soon, I was just wondering how to know. And if she could die from not eating much. She's 80 years old.
