Dementia for 2

I am not a Doctor by any stretch of the imagination. I read a lot and I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes too many questions. My mother spent a lot of time in various hospitals when I was younger so I learned at an early age how to "talk" to Doctors. Most of us trust our physicians and do not ask a lot of questions. Some of us do not want to appear ignorant and also, do not ask a lot of questions.

My uncle has been hospitalized for the last 2 weeks. What started as the flu turned into pneumonia and ended with him hallucinating in his own home. These were very serious hallucinations. Once he was taken to the hospital he became combative and they restrained and sedated him.....for over a week. I am not sure but I thought it was illegal to restrain anyone in a hospital setting. One of his sons managed to get him moved to a larger, more equipped hospital in a nearby town. Once there it was discovered that his heart was only pumping at 20%. I think that the fact that his brain was not getting enough oxygen could have caused the hallucinations. A stint was placed in him on Monday. Everyone felt this would "cure" the problems and he could go home today.

Last night he started with the hallucinations again. I know that some drugs have side affects that include hallucinations. I don't know if he is getting these drugs and his children are not asking about it. They have decided to take him home and have him look at photo albums and the like to see if this will bring him back to reality. There will also be a nurse that will come and help to care for him.

Now, I don't want to be too critical of this decision, but, I can't help but wonder what these men are thinking. There are too many things that could go wrong with this scenario. I know they have removed all the ammunition from his home. They were afraid of the repercussions if the actual guns were removed. But they are leaving this man alone in his home with his car keys with little or no supervision.

I am not close to my family so I don't know that they would listen to any advice I could offer. I have made some suggestions to my mother so she can relay for me. Mom is infinitely more tactful than I. I pray that they have more tests run and decide against taking him home until they know exactly what is going on in his brain.