Saturday
marked a milestone in Dad’s recovery as it was 100 days since he had his
stroke. Mum has been at Dad’s side every
single one of those 100 days – it’s clear to see that their marriage is solid
after 42 years and that they truly meant it when they said ‘in sickness and in
health’.
I am pleased
to say Mum agreed to have a ‘day off’ on Sunday. We took her to celebrate a 90th
birthday and it was good to see Mum catching up with her family. Dad’s brothers’, sister and their other halves
looked after Dad on Sunday – it sounds like he had a good afternoon engaging
and interacting with them, laughing and joking.
And so to the
events of last week...Following on from the 'jab' Dad gave an OT recently and the
fact he sometimes fends off the Nurses when they come to give him his
medication and injections, Dad was referred to a psychiatrist due to ‘behavioural’ problems. The psychiatrist
met with Dad on Thursday in the presence of Mum and his sister. The verdict from the psychiatrist was that
Dad wasn’t harmful and that he jabbed the OT due to the pain he was
experiencing and nothing more sinister. He advised Mum that the medication he could prescribe would make
Dad very drowsy and take years off his life, but he saw no reason to prescribe
the drugs – Mum agreed.
It was
therefore frustrating to hear on Friday that one of the Doctors at NG had
signed off the drug to allow the Nurses to administer it three times a day if necessary
– which clearly isn’t going to help Dad’s progress. It was also dropped in to
this conversation that Dad had been put on a behavioural chart – which was
news to us, so we asked to see it. I
think several residents and their visitors also found out about Dad’s chart at
the same time as it was shouted out in the dining area for all to hear ‘Has
anyone seen Alan Skett’s behavioural chart’ – yes, thanks for that…nothing like a bit of patient privacy.
This chart is
to document Dad’s behaviour at each hour during the day and had been started on
Thursday, so not sure why we, as Dad’s family, hadn’t been consulted? This now explains why one of the carers came
in to Dad’s room when we there on Friday afternoon, pretending to look at the
label on Dad’s bed. She had the chart in
hand and was apparently able to make a three hour assessment based on less than
10 seconds in the room and without any interaction with Dad. It is immensely
frustrating that we are treated as though we are stupid. It would be appreciated if proceedings were
conducted openly and honestly with us being informed – you never know, we could
even work together for the benefit of Dad – or would that be too sensible?
The PCT got
back in touch this week. The panel have
requested further evidence as to why Dad has scored a ‘severe’ for
cognitive. It doesn’t help that the copy
of Dr B’s report we have received this week states Dad’s cognitive ‘is back to
normal’. I suggested that the PCT Nurse also
reviews the score for Dad’s behaviour.
Clearly if Dad has been referred to a psychiatrist, jabbed an OT and been put on a behaviour chart – he should be scored higher than
‘moderate’. Not holding my breath for a
positive outcome when they contact me again on Tuesday - but we'll see.
Going back to
Dr B’s report – it reads positively. It
states ‘I think this gentleman has really come along way and I anticipate
further improvement. He is also a very
motivated individual’. He confirms Dad
was readmitted in to hospital on 21st July with an ‘episode of scar
epilepsy’ – so not a mini stroke (TIA) as had been suggested. Unfortunately Dr B did not engage with Dad
for long, as he would clearly have realised that Dad’s cognitive is nowhere
near ‘back to normal’. Dad was able to
follow the simple instructions that were given to him, but was not asked any
questions to demonstrate his state of mind.
Dad has been emotional again this week, his short term memory is still
very poor (forgetting visitors have been five minutes after they have left), he
struggles to find certain words and the meaning of other words he would have
known before the stroke e.g. he asked this week – cockles and mussels…what are
they?
Dad’s own
wheelchair has arrived this week with a gutter support for his left arm - although after weeks without the gutter-support, Dad's arm is now in a set position whereby it is too painful to rest his arm in it. Not sure why it’s taken nine weeks to arrive,
when other patients arriving at NG after Dad have been in theirs for a lot
longer. Then again - the name tag on the
wheelchair says Alan Scott…so say no more.
The physio
spoke briefly to Mum this week to advise her they had tried again to get Dad to
use the stand rotator, but unfortunately he couldn’t do it - as long as they keep trying.
We had our
own physio session Friday afternoon in Dad’s room. I’d downloaded the music from Mum and Dad’s
line dancing classes, thanks to Anne their instructor, so Mum and Dad spent an
hour or so singing along and tapping out the dance steps with their feet. We encouraged Dad to use his left foot too –
although he said it was painful. Dad
broke down a couple of times during these songs, which made me wonder whether he was still on his anti-depressants. It is so important to get Dad engaging and
laughing - which we all encourage when we are in his company. It is really good to see his face light up
when his grandchildren are with him – although they will be missed for the next
two weeks as they are on holiday.
On Saturday
we sat outside in the sun with Dad and he asked if his legs were going
brown! We had a good afternoon listening
to music and I read some stroke patient’s recovery stories from ‘Stroke News’ –
a monthly magazine we have now subscribed to – which kept Dad’s interest. I asked the Nurse if Dad was still on his anti-depressants as he is very emotional again - she confirmed his meds hadn't changed.
Dad is still
refusing to eat breakfast. But when I
asked Dad if he knew where he was each morning when he woke up he said
‘no’. So if he is unsettled in a morning
I can understand why he wouldn’t want to eat - although I’m sure if Mum was with him giving him reassurance he would
eat his breakfast. I suggested putting
something on Dad’s wall so he could read it each morning to understand where he
is and what has happened to him – maybe that would help? Dad continues to eat most of his lunch and
all of his dinner. He still needs to be
eating more to sustain his weight. I
would say Dad’s core is getting stronger from sitting in the wheelchair and so
he is continuing to make progress - I just hope he makes progress with his
physio so that he will soon get to the stage where he can stand.
Over the next couple of weeks, due to the holiday period, regular visitors to Dad will not be around –
so please, if you would like to visit Dad, even for just an hour, do get in touch
with me or Mum to arrange....your help and support would be much appreciated:
Update: Following a one to one conversation Mum had with one of the Nurses, she confirmed that although the 'additional' medication had been signed off by the Doctor, it would only ever be administered in very severe cases and unlikely to be used on Dad. She also confirmed that the psychiatrist advised Dad is NOT suffering from depression (contradiction) and that he is emotional - he recommended that Dad was taken off the anti-depressants for that reason! This therefore explains why Dad has been so emotional again over the last few days.
Love you Dad x
 |
| Mum n Dad 18th August 2012 |
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