AboutMargot RN BScN GNC Expertise Please feel free to ask anything, but the more specific you are, the easier it is for me. Please share as many details as you are comfortable doing. I do check my Emails daily Monday through Friday so you should receive an answer within 24 hours on most business days. Thanks.
Experience GERONTOLOGY (NURSING ISSUES RELATED TO THE ELDERY) I have 15+ years experience working with the elderly. I would be pleased to offer any assistance I can. My areas of expertise include: Gerontology / Geriatrics, Long Term Care, Community Nursing, Palliative Care, Private Nursing Services, Intermediate / Extended Care. I also have a personal interest in Homeopathic and Eastern Medicine. If I can not answer your question I'll do my best to direct you to an appropriate resource. Thank you. Experience in the area 20 years of Long Term Care and Community Nursing, specialising in Geriatrics, Gerontology and PalliativeCare.
Education/Credentials Registered Nurse , Certified Gerontological Nurse, Bachelor of Science in Nursing
Question My aunt was diagnosed with Parkinsonsim disease about 3 years ago. She has detoriated to the point of total rigidity, unable to speak, hardly able to blink and truly resembles someone with ALS. She has refused a feeding tube and is fed soft foods. She seems to have lost interest in watching t.v./music and sleeps most of the day. What can we expect next? Her organs are in good shape
Answer Hi Sue and thanks for writing,
I am sorry to read about your Aunts struggle with PD, it is such a cruel disease and so painful to watch a strong woman we love so dearly be crippled both physically and mentally by it before our eyes.
Towards the end of the disease there is frequently a slow decrease in the volume of speech, accompanied by increasing dysarthria (difficulty in speech articulation caused by a lack of muscle control resulting from damage to the central nervous system). Unrelated to the intellectual impairment commonly found in Parkinson's disease, there is the development of word-finding difficulty. Unfortunately, there is very little improvement with therapy.
In itself, Parkinson's is not a fatal condition. However, the end-stage of the disease can lead to pneumonia, choking, severe depression, and death. Sadly, many PD patients spend their last years confined to a Geri-Chair (a medical version of a recliner) with functions similar to an infant. They lose the ability to walk, to talk, to care for themselves, urinary & bowel control and even to turn themselves over in bed.
End Stage may include one, or a combination of the following:
Progressive decline despite medical therapies
Multiple hospitalizations/frequent ER visits (often due to falls)
Agitation that is more difficult to control
Diminished functional status
Decreased appetite
Progressive weight loss
Increasing dyspnea (trouble breathing)
Dysphagia (trouble swallowing)
Recurrent infections
Severe decline in mental status ,
and eventually Increased weakness, fatigue, drowsiness.
