Delirium!

I have had better days and so has Dulcie.As soon as I arrived at the hospital today I could tell something was not right. She was in her chair but still in her nighty and she completely blanked me and did not acknowledge my arrival."Why are you not dressed?""I just didn't have time, Nick. " She was idly  fiddling with the tube going into her arm which was administering the antibiotic."It's rained a lot in the night. We had 36 mm!" I said."Yes, I saw the ants running across my bed," she said."It's starting to rain now.""Yes," she said, "I can see it running down that hill," pointing out of the ward.She turned to the empty chair next to her and said,"Why don't you go make yourself a cup of coffee Dan? Mum can't at the moment but you know where everything is."My heart started to break.She thought she was at home which explained a little why she had not been surprised to see me."What happened to the big TV?" She asked me. "It was Danny's.""It's still at home," I said.She smiled, "Oh yes, I keep thinking I am at home."Her lunch came. She ate all of it. I sat on her bed."Is that a rat?" She asked."Where?" I said."There next to you on the end of the bed.""No, it's just the machine that regulates the air in your mattress," I said.She finished her lunch and pushed the table away and prepared to stand up."No," I said, "You have got to stay sat down. You are not to get up without the nurse."Joanne from next door arrived. I knew she was coming and had intended to go home when she arrived but I just did not like leaving her like this.I warned Joanne out of the side of my mouth, quietly,  that she was  a little confused today, but Dulcie and Joanne chatted away happily and she seemed ok again until she asked where Wendi went."She came yesterday," I said."Oh, yes," she said. She told Joanne that she had got confused and thought she was at home and told her about asking me about the TV. She shook her head smiling at her own mistake.She prepared to get up again saying "Move up Joanne, I'll sit next to you on the bed."She actually stood right up and I had to sit her back down.I took the opportunity while Joanne was there to go and chat to the nurse.Nina was sat behind the desk. I asked her about Dulcie's confusion. She was unsure and looked for the doctor but he was not in his office. I had spoken to him yesterday and he was as useful as Nina was turning out to be today. She passed me onto another nurse...the one who had been running around like a loony doing everything since I had arrived, as she was the one who was dealing most with Dulcie but she had no answers either and was very busy and dashed off somewhere else.I went back in to the ward."Is that Shirley, playing outside with those children Nick?" she asked."No, it's a bit noisy out there but there are no children and it is not Shirley. She went home yesterday remember.""Oh, yes," she said," it just sounded like Shirley though.""Is Danny coming back?" She asked."He might be in later," I said.Joanne had to go. I told her I was going to stay until Dulcie was safely back in bed or the Physios came.She was down on the board for Physiotherapy at 1.00 pm. At 2.00 I told her not to move from the chair."I promise," she said, "and I don't break my promises."I went to find a nurse. I got to the door and the little nurse who had been running around since I got there was just sitting down. She sank into the chair exhausted and stared blankly into the distance."I'm sorry, " I said as I approached, "but could you put Dulcie back in bed. I have to go and she keeps on trying to get out of her chair.""Oh!" she said, jumping up, finding some energy from somewhere.She put Dulcie back in bed and tucked her in.I lent over to give her a kiss on the fore head."What's that dear? " she said, looking into the distance ".....yes, I am tired."My heart broke some more.I drove home worn out and very worried. I wanted Will to come home from work.There were more flies waiting to be swatted, and the washing I had hung out had been soaked by a few heavy showers.I went down to bring it in and Joanne came out from next door."They are so lucky to have you," she said, "You are marvellous with her." It was all I could do not to burst into tears there and then.I held it in until I was hanging the wet clothes up under the house.When Will came home we went back just before tea-time."How did you track me down?" She asked.She was just the same."Look at that cat there...it's like the one Danny had."Her tea arrived."No, dear," she said " to the porter, "I've had my tea."He looked hesitant. I took the tray off him.She ate most of it but left the soup and the banana."I'll take that banana home and have it for breakfast." She said.I nipped to the loo just at the moment that the doctor I had spoken to yesterday came to ask how things were.When I got back he and Will were chatting outside the ward.Will went off to make phone calls after speaking to the doctor. Dulcie wanted to go to the loo. Two nurses came to help her. They pulled the curtains round. Another nurse arrived with the phone...a call for Dulcie. She took it behind the curtain.It was Liam her grandson."Hello? Yes dear, They are just getting ready to take me home, dear. They are taking me home in the truck."I heard the nurse say,"Can I have the phone Dulcie?" Then I heard her say, "I am sorry,Dulcie is a little confused at the moment. We are just taking her to the toilet. Can you call back in 10 minutes?"Poor Liam!Will finally told me what the doctor had said on our way out.He must have gone away and done some research since I asked him about her hallucinations. He told Will that it was "Delirium" brought on probably by body stress and also because of the cortisone she was being given. We learned she also had a urinary tract infection and this also could be a cause. He said that we were not to stress about it and that eventually when she comes off the antibiotics it should improve.I suddenly had a thought and we went back in to see the doctor again and tell him about her attempts to stand up earlier in the day and ask that she not be left in her chair unattended until her confusion ends.It has been a difficult and worrying day but we are relieved to hear what the doctor has said.We want 'our' Dulcie back.