A true story

[ICNDonna]

There's no other way to look at this without at least smiling. :)

Here's the tale:

I have an elderly relative in an assisted living facility. She's there because when she was in a senior apartment house, if she got lonesome and wanted attention, she would call 911, get a ride in an ambulance, and family would be called to come fetch her from emergency room.

A couple of months ago she stopped eating and lost a great deal of weight to the extent that the thought was that she would not live long and she was put on a hospice program. After a few weeks with hospice, she decided that wasn't any fun, started eating, gained weight, and started taking part in facility activities (There are lots of things to do there.)

The hospice folks then reported to Medicare that she was dismissed from hospice care, which was interpreted by them as a death. A family member took her to the Social Security Office and the situation was (we think) resolved --- the funny thing is that while family was talking to the SS folks, our "dead" relative got the giggles and kept saying the things she can get away with now since she's dead and can't be blamed for anything, even crime. Yesterday she said she's kind of sad to be alive again --- she got so much attention when she was dead. :)

I know it's not really funny, yet it is.

Donna

[bubbe1]

Donna,
That IS funny! Sounds like your relative has a good sense of humor!

[Mothergoose]

This story is funny but so true.

My FIL lives alone but has home support come in to check on him daily, for quite a while he would tell the worker this or that, they would run him to the ER and drop him off, then call me to go be with him and give him a ride home. Our ER is small so everyone knows everyone, it became if he needed to fart he would go to the ER, they won't turn him away without checking him out, he is 96 and they don't want to get blamed if something really was wrong with him.

It got to be so much that one day I said how can you travel if you have to go to the ER every other day, he was liking the attention he got, but he loves to travel, so this got him to think.

Then one day thee ER called for me to pick him up and I couldn't nor could any one else in the family, so he told the nurse he would wait till I could come for him, I had said I would be at least 2 hours, the nurse said fine but he would be waiting in the waiting room as they needed the bed, he thought he would be able to wait in the ER bed, she called back this was not what he wanted. I said tell him to take a cab home, he did.

Then one day his daughter told the home support workers not to drive him to the ER unless they were going to pick him up, or tell him to drive himself.

Once he stopped achieving all the attention this behavior stopped.

On a more serious note he just used the Er as his medical care so it had no continuity to it. Now I make him reg app with the same Dr. and go to them with him to his appointments.

But I think this is so true of a lot of older people.

MG

[Jocotter]

Lol, these stories are giving me ideas for when I get older and need some excitment and attention. :lmao:

[KarenAnne]

Oh my gosh. What a character!!

[AuntieKit]

The above stories sound just like my grandmother (RIP! :angel:) She would go to the ER and do everything in her power to get admitted to the hospital. She obviously had legitimate medical issues (since she would be admitted) but would exaggerate her symptoms and her medical history. She told us it was like a "vacation", that she enjoyed having people waiting on her hand & foot and she disn't have to do anything. It kind of makes me giggle, thinking of how she would brag about her "collection" of insulated hospital cups.