Visiting my elderly and bedridden mother

Flew back to Nibong Tebal over the weekend (30 Sep - 2 October) to visit my mother.

My mother is 24 years my senior. She has been troubled by Parkinsonism secondary to cerebral small vessel disease for over one decade. She was still able to ambulate a few steps with the help of walking stick/rollator initially, but her strenght gradually deteriorated over the years. 

She was looked after by a domestic helper all these years. 

She became bedridden / non-ambulant since early this year. We discovered she had hugh bedsores over sacral/gluteal region when I was back home for QingMing in April 2023. Rushed her to local district hospital in Butterworth that night itself, but she was discharged home for outpatient treatment after waiting for several hours in the Accident and Emergency Department. It seemed that local district outpatient clinic was unable to manage her condition satisfactorily, hence, she was admitted to private hospital in Butterworth for about one week - given IV antibiotics and wound debridement. After that, she was sent home, and attended by GP daily for wound debridement and cleansing. Fortunately, the bedsores were healing - now only left a fairly deep ulcer at sacral region.

Along the way (over the past one month or so), she developed abscess with sinus underneath the skin at left groin region - now on regular dressing. 

Because of her neurological disorder, she has fairly severe spasticity of limbs, with both hands held in fisted posture. The fingers with flexed so "stiff" and painful when passively stretched, with the finger nails "biting" the palmar surface of the hands, causing some wound. 

Despite her immobility, she was still able to recognise people and converse in a very soft voice when needed. And fortunately, she is still able to swallow food orally. 

Being far away from my mother, my siblings in Nibong Tebal are the ones looking after her all this years. I could only contribute monetary support for her daily needs / medical care.

We were quite appalled with the care provided by our domestic helper. She probably sensed our displeasure, and asked to go home (on the pretext that her parents were sick). We promptly agreed, and sourced any domestic helper to take care of our mother.

So far, the new domestic helper has been consistent in turning my mother regular on the bed (to prevent bedsores) and feeding her meals at dedicated times. Hopefully, things will be better along the way.

Sigh, it is no joke to be incapacitated at old age...