The Thing About Accidents and Kidney Infections

To begin, the matriarch does not have accidents; she has had them after emotional upsets but they are hardly routine. It is embarrassing and sheets must be changed, clothes washed, and the matriarch's dignity restored. But it happens.

The matriarch is on a low dose Alzheimer's medication and the doctor did not tell me accidents could be a side effect. My friend's father has full onset Alzheimer's and she has not been told accidents could be a side effect of the medication. Neither one of us has ever heard of kidney infections being a possible side effect of the drugs; we both figure if they were, it would be the doctor's obligation to inform us.

Unfortunately, and recently, an Alzheimer patient I know of has suffered her third kidney infection and the staff of the home has told the family the infections are a result of the medication. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. But my first thought when I found out about the infections was personal accidents. Were the patient's sheets not changed or was the person left sitting in the mess for too long? When my children were young, I made 'Huggies' a small fortune because I would change the children's diapers whenever they had a movement, urinary or bowel. It sounds silly to have explain about accidents but some people change on timers, every 2-4 hours, some change on demand, and some allow so many diapers a day. I feel terrible about the situation with the Alzheimer patient; the accident scenario was not discussed. But adult diapers also have to be changed and, often, work on the same schedule as children's concerns. I can't imagine doctors accepting kidney infections as par for the course with some medication. Maybe they do? But this is one reason, I think no matter how difficult it is here, I could not, in good faith, let my mother-in-law into an institution. I don't imagine any way to justify her sitting in her own filth.