My mother’s hospice aide (unvaccinated, I didn’t know) tested positive last Friday and my mother tested positive on Monday. Now, my mother had COVID diagnosed 12/31 and has had two vaccines. But her facility has again quarantined her. She had returned from hospital very disoriented and had finally gotten back to the routine of going down for dinner and puzzle table.
For me, the result is that since I violated my policy of not going indoors on Easter, for 20 minutes (most of my visit was outside, and I was double masked) to help her carry gifts to her apartment, I was honest and reported this possible exposure to my vaccine site, at the recommendation of my doctor. The vaccine site folks were so sympathetic and agreed this is a gray area but there is now a 14 day hold on my vaccine scheduling, and by then it will be even further out since our state’s vaccines are opening on the 19th, the day I can schedule again. I am 70 and will be in line with young people who haven’t been as careful. My daughter has had to change her travel plans and I am forced to look at apartments and move, while unvaccinated.
This is all the result of hospice sending an unvaccinated aide into my mother’s apartment. The assisted living and hospice kept assuring me it was safe to go into her apartment, and everyone else has. But except for that 20 minutes on Easter, I have only met her outside. I seriously feel cursed. This is my 5th rescheduling of a vaccine.
I am getting tested this weekend and my mother’s blood sample is being tested for a variant. If not a variant, we can assume the positive is from her old case. Then I will try to get into the vaccine schedule earlier but there is an actual hold on it that may not be fixable.
Additionally, my mother had some sort of breathing episode the night before last, at the dinner table. She had just called me and was fine. Maybe she choked? The facility called hospice and the hospice nurse called me and said that my mother was “transitioning.” Meaning dying. The nurse gave her Dilaudid, Ativan and then she had Lunesta and Gabapentin right after. The next day she had severe word-retrieval issues and called me saying she 'wanted to go home." Those meds had obvious effects cognitively. And they want to put her on Ativan twice a day! And she is alive and kicking, not transitioning. I cried all night thinking she was dying and because of the exposure I could not be there.
I talked with the case manager who told me I needed to trust them. I said that was hard when they had an unvaccinated aide in there and they had told me my mother was dying when she wasn’t, and that when I was able to be there during her last hospice I always gave her the lowest effective dose of ONE med.
I requested a test to see if breathlessness is again from anemia, which they previously misdiagnoses as anxiety. She required TWO transfusions and the gasping for breath stopped. If her anemia hasn’t gotten worse, that means she is not bleeding and I am taking her off hospice.
I am now afraid an assisted living aide will also test positive. I cannot go in there! And if my mother cannot make it out, I cannot see her. I understand staffing shortages and low pay and difficulty finding staff, but honestly, it’s crazy to be afraid to go in to see my mother. I have looked at apartments for us but it is so daunting: no availability right now in my area, and I am frail myself!