Monday 11 April 2011

An email from my sister

Meeting was OK. Dad's psychiatrist and Margaret the nurse. They think dad is coming towards the end (we were offered a leaflet called 'coping with death') and really just wanted to know what we wanted in terms of how aggressively to treat some of his symptoms - like the eating and chest infections.


We said that we wanted him kept in the unit and kept as comfortable as possible, as he seemed to have a really bad time of it in the general hospital. They explained that they were feeding him as much as possible, but their guidelines say they have to stop as soon as they think he might be aspirating the food, or dozing off, so he is eating less than he used to, hence why he is losing weight.

They understand and agree with us, and will try to keep him as comfortable as possible.

Mum took it all fine, but I'm not sure if she really took in that we might be nearing the end. She was telling them all about how her hip ops might interrupt her visiting for a while, and I got the impression that the unit think another bad chest infection might be his last. They will give him whatever drugs he needs to keep him calm and well.

Not brilliant news, but not unexpected. We can feed him what and as much as he wants. They really just wanted to meet us to discuss whether or not he goes back to the general hospital if he gets unwell again. We said no, because it didn't seem to do him any good the last time.

Glad I managed to make it along.

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