Shuffling Towards Oblivion
Rosemarie has another chest infection.
Nobody seems sure when it started: we only started to hear the chestiness on Saturday, but with hindsight the nurses are associating the drowsiness with the infection rather than the increased dose of Clonazepam. Her appetite was reduced for the last half of the week and, more worryingly, her fluid intake fell off a cliff.
We have been here before.
For most of the past week visiting her has consisted of sitting by her side and watching her sleep. She could usually be woken up to eat, but it became a tedious business. By Wednesday I was having to wake her up for each mouthful, and constantly remind her to chew and swallow. By Friday I was lucky to get her to eat half a dozen spoonfuls.
I was able to feed her fluid though, half a spoonful at a time, maybe 50ml in half an hour. She seemed genuinely thirsty but lost interest after the second spoonful and I had to wait for a few minutes before it was worth trying again.
Saturday there was another change: she was still very drowsy but she opened her eyes slightly and lay there gazing into space, not responding to anything. Antibiotics arrived Saturday night and she started the treatment.
Sunday I did not even try feeding her, and concentrated on trying to get some fluid into her. The nurse on duty said she had no luck but I was able to give her about 20ml: not much and nowhere near enough, but better than nothing.
Then this morning Good Nurse phoned me (she was back from a few days' leave) to tell me that she had checked Rosemarie's pad and she now was also contending with a UTI. She also refused to swallow her medication and nobody had been able to get her to take any fluid at all. Good Nurse had spoken to the doctor and someone was coming out to see her. I am waiting to be contacted when the Doctor arrives to talk about what can be done.
I am trying to understand why trained nurses can't put in a cannula and give her fluid through a drip. Or why trained nurses cannot give antibiotic injections. There seems to be immense reluctance to talk about this. It seems there is some kind of demarcation between what a Care Home does and what a Nursing Home does. I am going to have to dig deeper because I didn't get a straight answer from Good Nurse.
She also asked my consent for passing Rosemarie's details onto the Palliative Care Team - something I thought had already been done, and asking me to give the Home authority to start or change medication or treatment in an emergency if they can't contact me for consent. I agreed but there was a chill in my heart.
This is not looking good.
Nobody seems sure when it started: we only started to hear the chestiness on Saturday, but with hindsight the nurses are associating the drowsiness with the infection rather than the increased dose of Clonazepam. Her appetite was reduced for the last half of the week and, more worryingly, her fluid intake fell off a cliff.
We have been here before.
For most of the past week visiting her has consisted of sitting by her side and watching her sleep. She could usually be woken up to eat, but it became a tedious business. By Wednesday I was having to wake her up for each mouthful, and constantly remind her to chew and swallow. By Friday I was lucky to get her to eat half a dozen spoonfuls.
I was able to feed her fluid though, half a spoonful at a time, maybe 50ml in half an hour. She seemed genuinely thirsty but lost interest after the second spoonful and I had to wait for a few minutes before it was worth trying again.
Saturday there was another change: she was still very drowsy but she opened her eyes slightly and lay there gazing into space, not responding to anything. Antibiotics arrived Saturday night and she started the treatment.
Sunday I did not even try feeding her, and concentrated on trying to get some fluid into her. The nurse on duty said she had no luck but I was able to give her about 20ml: not much and nowhere near enough, but better than nothing.
Then this morning Good Nurse phoned me (she was back from a few days' leave) to tell me that she had checked Rosemarie's pad and she now was also contending with a UTI. She also refused to swallow her medication and nobody had been able to get her to take any fluid at all. Good Nurse had spoken to the doctor and someone was coming out to see her. I am waiting to be contacted when the Doctor arrives to talk about what can be done.
I am trying to understand why trained nurses can't put in a cannula and give her fluid through a drip. Or why trained nurses cannot give antibiotic injections. There seems to be immense reluctance to talk about this. It seems there is some kind of demarcation between what a Care Home does and what a Nursing Home does. I am going to have to dig deeper because I didn't get a straight answer from Good Nurse.
She also asked my consent for passing Rosemarie's details onto the Palliative Care Team - something I thought had already been done, and asking me to give the Home authority to start or change medication or treatment in an emergency if they can't contact me for consent. I agreed but there was a chill in my heart.
This is not looking good.
posted by Other Kosh at 2:13 pm
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