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Hi my mom has moderate Alz and is in AL and doing fine but we need a 24 hr urine sample. We have collected urine samples before and it is not a problem for a one-off but for a 24 hour sample how do we monitor her? What if she needs to do a bm? The nurse at AL and I couldn't figure out how it might possibly work other than my shadowing her for 24 hours to make sure she only uses her toilet, doesn't remove the collection cap, etc. Plus the first one of the day shouldn't be included in the sample. What a pain! Has anyone ever done this and what did you do?

Have you talked to healthcare professionals about continued testing? When a patient has dementia, routine testing and even testing for certain conditions is often avoided. As others have stated, treating certain conditions that don’t involve comfort care aren’t usually advisable. For example, if she did have cancer would she be a candidate for surgery or chemotherapy? It’s difficult to put a person who can’t understand why they are being made sick or caused pain through such things, when they aren’t mentally able to comprehend it. The American Cancer Society used to have recommendations about it. Dementia is terminal, but a consult with a primary doctor who treats seniors with Alzheimer’s might be helpful. When my LO went into Memory Care we went to comfort care only.
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Reply to Sunnygirl1
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If she has dementia, would they treat the kidney damage any differently than they are currently treating her? If she has cancer, would you opt for treatment or hospice? If the answer is no, or hospice, why bother with the very impractical (and likely unreliable or incomplete results).

My mom only has mild dementia (more MCI) and she has had moderate kidney failure for two decades. She is also very incontinent. When her PCP also asked for a 24 hour urine at one point, I thought it was completly impractical for the same reasons and I pushed back. I wanted to know why she needed the test and the PCP said it was for monitoring and would not change any treatment because there was nothing that could be done to treat or reverse the damage. So, I declined having her do the test. There was no benefit to her.

I just moved my mom to hospice for palliative treatment for a condition that will result in chronic UTIs. At my last visit with her PCP, she was expecting us to somehow do clean catch urine samples on a regular basis when she can barely stand. I asked to use a hat but she said it the wouldn't be sterile. I'm not sure what fantasy-world these doctors live in sometimes. That was our last doctor's visit because we were both done!
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Reply to ShirleyDot
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SnoopyLove 8 hours ago
This is wise counsel!
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Hi everyone the test is to determine kidney damage and possible cancer. My mom doesn't have an attendant with her all the time and the test calls for discarding the first urine of the day. If she didn't have Alz this wouldn't be as much of a problem. She doean't just stay in her room and she walks all over. Thanks for the replies.
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Reply to Jennyjenjen
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Is dr or you think she may have a UTI, just treat her for it...

my friend's mom had one, she could tell...
she obviously saw it the tube, but they were hesitant in treating it. She had to demand! Urine cleared up .
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Reply to MAYDAY
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If your mom is now in an assisted living facility it up to THEM and not you to figure how to get what the doctor is requesting.
And yes the folks at her AL need to make sure that she's only using her toilet to pee, as they can put the enclosed pail that goes with a bedside commode over her toilet to catch her pee, meaning the whole bedside commode will go over her toilet with bucket/pail attached. And if she has to poop the CNA will have to remove the the pail part so she can just poop in the toilet. Either that or the CNA will have to remove the poop from the pee in the bucket.
And the CNA will have to be with your mom first thing in the morning to collect the first urine of the day.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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Why is someone ordering a 24 hour urine sample?

Once my mom was diagnosed with dementia, we cut WAY back on testing for things.

As a wise Gerontology specialist told me, "if you aren't going to treat it, don't do the test."
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Reply to BarbBrooklyn
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