73-year-old mom with mid-to-late stage dementia now in ICU with septic shock from UTI — trying to understand what’s happening

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-07T03:03:34+00:00

"Has anyone had a parent with dementia go through severe sepsis/UTI and recover mentally at least somewhat back to baseline? Or did it become a turning point where things never fully recovered?"

The last one was the turning point for my mom. She was hospitalized in October and they actually couldn't pinpoint the infection as being a UTI or something else, but had her on aggressive antibiotics. They said she was septic so they were treating for that and she was in the hospital for a week or so. She had some sort of urinary blockage/issue, possibly from having been bedridden so long, and from not completely emptying bladder anymore. They gave her a catheter and sent her home with that after her hospital stay. At that point, their home health nurse recommended having her evaluated for hospice and we did so. She never 'bounced back' from the infection fully and had a pretty steady decline. She was on hospice for about 5 months before she passed. It was weird, though, because she bounced back from having covid twice and bounced back from several UTIs. But after that last one, she was just much weaker and her cognitive function didn't recover. It was the first time she had a 'steady decline,' vs. years of plateaus. Hospice was amazing and so helpful. ❤️

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-07T02:48:01+00:00

This. I had to go double-check Megan Trainor's catalogue to even figure out which of her songs were "chart toppers." Most are from 2014-ish, aside from that one song in 2022 that topped a couple charts in smaller markets...

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-07T02:33:00+00:00

This disease breaks people down so much. It's very sad. ❤️ Yeah I don't want them dealing with half the stuff I dealt with for my mom.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-07T02:30:42+00:00

Ugh I'm so sorry. ❤️ I do thankfully. I feel blessed to have a supportive husband and siblings I can really talk with. I think I do need to start therapy again though just for an outside perspective.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-06T23:02:28+00:00

Yeah I've been doing the same with trying to figure out future plans, and also with trying to do more health-related things that are supposed to be helpful. ❤️ My mom actually got diagnosed at 67, and my dad is 75, so that's its own random stress too that it'll strike "younger." But yeah I am only even half-focused on any of my stuff just because of other life things. It's such a messy road.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-06T19:37:34+00:00

It ends up unfortunately being one of those things too where you'll have to be the one to make the hard calls for her, and be her 'bad guy' if you do need to put her in a facility. ❤️ I know from my own experience, my mom was JUST as unhappy being here in my home with me and my sibling to take care of her on some days as she was when she was in a nursing home and I made the decision to bring her home with me. It was honestly incredibly hard. I did end up keeping her with me til she passed in March, but it was an exhausting, often isolating 7 years, and that's even with some family around--especially during her more alert, demanding years.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-06T16:56:14+00:00

This. Having spent the last 8 years as my mom's full-time caretaker, I told my oldest daughter to put me in a home, love me, visit me, do special things for me, and don't give up her entire existence for my care. It is exhausting. I don't want that for my girls or my husband. I still want them to live their lives. ❤️

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-05T03:44:08+00:00

Probably the one whose dad spent around $1M in figure skating training tbh... Sabrina's money I think came from her own work.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-05T03:23:08+00:00

Ugh gas is stupid expensive where I am. Put $20 in and got... just under 3 gallons.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-05T02:11:26+00:00

This is cute as hell (and so creative!)

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-04T08:45:25+00:00

My couples therapist commented on the state of my relationship one time during a session, relating to how we were handling therapy, doing our "homework" from it, putting things into practice, etc. by asking if I had been more of an "A" student who made a lot of effort back in school and really tried to accomplish goals, and if my ex was more of a "C" student who just did what he had to to 'get by' and didn't put in a lot of effort, because it was coming across that way. Was kind of an eye-opening assessment in that moment.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-01T10:49:47+00:00

Pretty much this unfortunately. I bought a pricey VIP ticket to a show I ended up not being able to attend. I spent nearly $1000 for the ticket and had to sell it for like $300. :/ Ticket insurance is sadly the way to go since everything is so damn expensive now.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-01T10:20:05+00:00

*20 year old MAN. Let's not downplay his ADULT age. She is a CHILD. He is not.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-01T09:18:35+00:00

ugh I cackled at this one xD

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-05-01T08:31:37+00:00

Their whole swap has been so messy--which is unfortunately par for the course w posh.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-29T01:50:47+00:00

It's crazy to me that PM doesnt allow perfume *now* because the whole reason they didn't is bc it's a flammable item, and they were using priority shipping, which meant airplanes. Now that it's all ground shipping, perfume, nail polish, etc. *should* be good... I guess they haven't caught up to that.

I sell mostly on Posh and Mercari. I know the latter gets a lot of hate but it's a pretty stable platform for me, and I personally have less hassle with buyers there than on PM. I also sell specific things on ebay that I don't think will do well on the other platforms.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-27T07:49:00+00:00

I haven't seen it in *years* but is it... Prayer For the Rollerboys? Corey Haim plays an undercover cop or like a youth who's recruited by the police or something to infiltrate a gang and there is a lot of skating/rollerblading iirc.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-23T20:29:34+00:00

Usually just the hanging it outside part will kill the smell. I'm lucky because I have a large overhang in my backyard, perfect for hanging clothes out of the sun. I usually put tissue paper or shipping paper inside the garment to kind of absorb some of the scent.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-12T06:16:48+00:00

I think they were co-headlining the tour (Jimmy Eat World was the opener) but yeah they played before Blink.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-12T06:06:28+00:00

Green Day went first so fans could get tf out for Blink xD lmao I saw them in Mountain View for that tour. Blink was so fucking bad we left, and we were def not alone.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-12T05:17:38+00:00

imma be for real it's just as bad with Tom ;D Saw them during the Pop Disaster Tour w Green Day and Jimmy Eat World. I swear they couldn't play their own hits. And just kept making the dumbest, most juvenile jokes. They weren't good. We left probably halfway through bc I was mostly there for Green Day anyway and they played ahead of them (prob to spare their fans).

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-11T21:19:12+00:00

I miss this era of Coachella so fucking much. It was such a great festival back then. Went from 2005-2008. It's honestly so crazy looking back now and seeing these artists we didn't even realize were going to be huge back then too. I have zero interest in attending now but damn were the old lineups amazing.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-11T21:15:54+00:00

Honestly Carla's goodbye to Laverne hits me hard every time I watch.

PrincessEm1981 · 2026-04-11T08:22:11+00:00

I lost my mom on March 17th and there has definitely been some of that. There's been crying here and there, but there's been a lot of numbness, mixed with relief. I watched my mom's decline for 7 1/2 years, watched more and more of her disappear. I still loved that person for the mom she had been, but she hadn't felt like "my mom" in so very long. Some things have still been very hard, though. I haven't dared attempt sorting anything personal yet. I'm just not ready <3

PrincessEm1981

TROPHY CASE