And slide two steps back again...

So it turned out that my dad's alzheimers getting worse was actually an urinary tract infection. The suck the energy out of old people, and the only symptom is often they are more confused than usual.

Middle of the night, dad falls and hits his head. Injury seems minimal, so put him back to bed. In the morning, he is even more confused, so call and make an appointment for him at urgent care clinic. Mom (wisely) decides to stay at hotel while I take dad to clinic.

Get to clinic where they see him, and more or less promptly send us to emergency room where they have CT scan machine to ensure he doesn't have a brain bleed from the fall. (A common and lethal issue with folks taking anticoagulants.) ER runs bunches of tests. No problems other than he was a bit dehydrated and he has the UTI.

So he was admitted, and sent back to the same ward he was last year. Several of the nurses there remembered him fondly. (Also possibly for the cakes and snacks I brought in on a regular basis.) But I didn't get away from the hospital until after six pm. Doc anticipates a stay of a couple of days, basically long enough for the antibiotic to start kicking the infection down to a manageable level, then recover back at whatever semblance of a home we have then.

It was a long, boring, and stressful day.