Tuesday 15 December 2020

Plague 86

 Not quite sure where to begin its been a funny old week , with real world friends and acquittances along with those ive spoken to for years on the internet dying like flies , not a Covid death among them all but still a grim week .

Mr BH has broken ribs yet again , he thinks it happened at his last scan appointment but its just an everyday nuisance happening , hes mainlining hard drugs it will knit but it takes time . Then he had to wait 5 days for a urgent chat with the GP about his scans , when she did eventually ring she accused him of being an alcholic yet again , then told him not to worry about it but he has an aortic aneurism and will need a scan every three months , just ring for an ambulance if he gets severe stomach pain . Then to cap it all she asks if hes considered signing a DNR . By this time hes sat there in gobsmacked silence. Still absorbing the fact that he has yet another life threatening ailment  I keep waking up in the night to check hes still snoring  , so lack of sleep is making me very strange 

Concentration level zilch im afraid , i just want a quiet xmas with us , but the best laid plans keep going wrong , yesterday useful son ended up in the back of an ambulance  with a suspected heart attack hes only 26 , hed been trying to get any response from his GP for 3 days at his ever worsening chest pains , when he spoke to them they just said ring an ambulance now .  Thankfully its turned out he has an infection around his heart that has gone into the muscles between his ribs hence the breathlessness and chest pains , hes home with a sackful of pills .

Mother is still scuttling round bringing joy to her neighbours she informs me shes popping bags of cat poo through their doors at the dead of night , electric shocking them isnt working ............Family who needs them?

14 comments:

  1. The signing of a DNR is that latest thing. I was listening to a prog about it recently. They're trying to get rid of all the poorly and elderly people I'm convinced of it.
    Briony
    x

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  2. Dear God Katie you really need a break don't you.

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  3. My parents are still living in Lincolnshire. Dad was asked recently about a DNR, so its obviously doing the rounds. As if people don't have enough to worry about, its a disagrace.

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  4. DNR Only means no chest compressions. No Doc would ever consider compressions on anyone with an aortic aneurysm they would horrifically bleed out. Worst way to go. Docs have a do no harm clause so would not attempt anyway. Survival rate from CPR is only 20 percent in a healthy adult of 21 year old electrocuted. CPR does not cure the cause of heart attack brings the person back if possible with extra damage the heart attack has caused. Brain damage is very common even in young. DNR does not mean no treatment only no compressions. Ask your consultant to be brutally honest and tell you why that was put to you.Is not just that they can't be arsed or let elderly die.

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    1. its slightly different here lately , a DNR means palliative care only and it is explained to people that they can then die at home . A certificate is issued that you expected to display prominently in your home . You have to go through a questionnaire with someone who comes to your home and marks your quality of life scores. My mother calls them the Ghoul Squad and refuses to speak to them. Active DNR is what used to happen and still does in a hospital setting . In the community health care is pretty much hanging by a thread at the moment with Covid . There is some speculation that GPs are getting a bonus for signing people up to the community DNR register

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    2. You have totally got the wrong end of the stick!. DNR or DNAR is not palliative care!. All treatment will be given ie I.V antibiotics. All illnesses will be treated just not cardiac compressions in those who would not survive and die a horrifically painful death if they attempted. Really does not matter if you agree or not, would never be done in someone with an aortic aneurysm or end stage COPD.

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    3. I know this Kirrie but these bleedin ghouls are going round explaining that they can stay at home and just have paliative care if they sign the paperwork , probably not in Scotland but in the UK

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  5. I hope you have a peaceful family Christmas and that 2021 is kinder to you.

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  6. DNR is not a death sentence. It's realism. If CPR is done correctly (depth and speed are critical) in the frail or elderly, it will result in broken ribs, broken sternum, punctured lungs and lascerated liver and spleen. Good chances of being ICU hooked up to monitors and tubes in most orifices.

    It isn't like on TV shows. It isn't gentle. What you need to look at is quality of life not quantity. You can be tube fed, have your pain managed, but if your heart stops, it's usually for a good reason.

    My Dad when he was terminally ill used to keep his DNR paper work in his wallet because he didn't want to be kept alive. If you looked at him you couldn't see the cancer that had ravaged his organs.

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  7. Hi, my OH was found to have an aortic aneurysm, totally out of the blue while being scanned for something else. Did they tell your OH the size? That’s the important thing...they will scan him regularly to see if it’s getting any larger, and if it reaches a certain size, they will need to operate. The NHS website information was really good I found, to help understand it all... more use than doctors sometimes!
    Hope it gets sorted one way or another. My OH had to have an op, but he’s all good now (fingers crossed!)

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    1. OH is classed as inoperable for various reasons , to just receive his diagnosis and a request to come and sign DNR paperwork in a garbled 5 minute phonecall with no explanation is ridiculous ...our GPs were pretty bad before Covid

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    2. That is dreadful. You have to wonder why some people become doctors. I’m guessing a formal complaint wouldn’t achieve anything?

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  8. I'm in the States, where a DNR = no care palliative or otherwise!

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