The past couple of days my MIL has been more confused. Her blood pressure is 154/83 sitting and standing is 135/89. It is usually much lower than this. She is running a low grade fever (normal for her is 96.7) and has been light headed and dizzy at times. She is also visibly shaking. Her color is a bit grayish. Of course the doctor's office is closed early on Fridays. I hate to drag her to a walk-in clinic where the physicians may not know about LBD and I hate to go unnecessarily to the emergency room. I always worry about aspiration pneumonia because she often has swallowing issues. She also has no concept of pain or how to express it. If she is still running a fever tomorrow I will probably take her to the ER. Any advice?

What is her temperature, i.e., how much of a fever?

Julianne

I would be most concerned about her 'grayish' appearance. Often, older people don't run much of a fever, even with an infection, but grayish skin often means low oxygen level. Is she at all short of breath? What are her pulse and respiration rates?

Does your MIL have BC/BS for insurance? If so, they have 24/7 nurses who are very helpful at times like this, where things seem urgent, but not quite emergency. If she has that ins. I'd highly recommend calling the nurse asap, or her PCP and talk with whomever is on call. Good luck, Lynn

I would think her Doctor would have an after hours calling service, most do or at least someone on call.

She went to bed so I'll get her pulse in the AM. Her breathing appears slightly erratic - sometimes really deep breaths and other times very shallow. Her temp is only 99 degrees, but she has had UTI's in the past with no fever. Her lack of verbal ability makes this difficult. She is going to the bathroom OK. She is on Medicare with a Tricare supplement. Before she went to bed I sat with her and watched her stare into space for a loooooooong time, no response, nor movement. Wierd. I will call the on call doctor. Thanks, all.

Blood pressure continued to rise. Pulse varies from 97 to 113. Called the on call doc. but never heard back. Took out her fludrocortisone, which is supposed to help her BP stay up. I'll take her BP when she gets up for the day (might not be until noon these days). Her temp was 98 degrees when she got up yesterday, but went up to 99 in the late afternoon. Luckily, she has a cardiology follow up tomorrow.

I wouldn't be surprised if the cardiologist suggests she go to the ER. Sounds like a tough situation.

I agree, Robin. Sounds like it could be some kind of cardiac or pulmonary problem.

After I took out her BP meds I couldn't get a reading from either arm. She was up and down all night going to the bathroom (frequent urination). I'll post after cardio appointment.

The cardiologist adjusted the medications and all is well once again. At least physical health wise. She, of course, by the the time we got home didn't remember where we had just been. An aside: her daughter is finally coming for a visit (MIL gets anxious for these visits because her daughter can be mean spirited. Those memories are still there. )

Donna,
Glad meds were adjusted to help and a FYI on the daughter , try holding off as long as possible to telling her of the daughters visit's maybe that will help with the anxiety! Good Luck!

Thanks for the update, Donna. I've been thinking about you and your MIL. Glad to hear things have improved.

Did the cardiologist say what to do if this happens again?

Yep. Call him and if I can't get through, then go to the ER. And we do not mention the visit from the daughter until the day before. When my MIL was at the ALF, they needed a week's warning to alert the staff of the impending visit.