Hey there all you good people. I was going to start a thread and before I did I checked and found this one. The situation with my Dad is similar, with one drawback. He has been restricting food intake for over a year. I was able to get him to eat a fairly nutritous dinner at noon, but at Supper time he doesn't want anything. Occasionally, a piece of toast with P'nut butter and sometimeshalf a banana. Othertimes just a cup with some ice cream, nothing else. Now he's beginning to wrap large portions of his Dinner in a paper napkin, saying "I don't feel very hungry, I'll eat this later." I try not to make a big deal about it as I worked on an anorexia unit one time and know how food restricting can become a power struggle, which I absolutely won't engage in. I always feed whatever he wraps up to our family of stray cats. He's losing weight pretty quickly. He's six ft. four, so he needs about 2000 Ca;ories a day just to hold his own. He's probably eating 1200, max.
Here's the part that concerns me more. He has been complaing of cramps in his abdomen, at least once or twice a week. He has had bouts of horrible explosive, watery, painful, loose stool. I have given him immodium and generally it clears up in a day or two. However it recurs frequently enough that I would like him to see a doctor. Except his last appointment didn't go very well because the doctor told him again, he cannot drive a car and he told the doctor he'd show him how well he can drive, he'd drive a bulldozer through the doctor's office. The doctor replied he could have him locked up for saying that, so, we're kind of out on a limb here, doctor wise.
I guess I can call the office and request a referral to an internist w/o actually taking him in. However, it is hard to predict what he'd have to say to another doctor, especially one who wants to examine his backside. I'll let you know how it goes.