Jeeezz !!! Do you eva stop moaning 
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Glad youâre home Ălan, Iâm sure the Domestic Antipodean will look after you just as well as the nubile nurses.
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Not quite on the same scale as being admitted but every time my son had his chemo he got home , ran upstairs and stunk the house out 
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Really want to slap my mum.
She went to the stroke clinic where they diagnosed a clot. Plan was to go in the arm with a grabber thing and pull the clot out but after another MRI they have found another two clots and several smaller ones so it was changed to a vein transplant to bypass the artery.
I popped round today and said she looked very pale and a little jaundiced but she said it was only because she was tired getting ready for the appt. She went in today so they could examine the veins in her legs where they will take the transplant from. They said the veins are too thin so canât do that and as the clots have been there 6 weeks they wonât do anything unless it is causing her pain or problems.
So of course being one of those fucking âI donât want to be any trouble peopleâ she said sheâs feeling much better and is fine so they said they would leave it like that.
Ten minutes ago I get a phonecall from my dad to say they are in A&E because the clinic phoned them early evening to say her haemoglobin count from the test earlier is nearly zero and to get to A&E immediately.
Shit, good luck
Fingers crossed Chris.
Shit Chris, hope it works out. That generation are a nightmare, my mum died of a DVT because she was virtually immobile, but hated doing the very basic exercises sheâd been told to do. Sheâd been complaining of leg pain for a couple of weeks before she died too,
I always dread this thread, especially after being out and coming back and seeing there are a number of posts.
Glad youâre back out Olan but I canât help but echo Terryâs comment that you arenât half milking it.
And Chrisâs maw! Hope she is OK matey. Umfortunately itâs what parents do.
FFS ! Really hoping sheâs OK Chris.
Fucks sake Chris.
I hope your old man pays attention to what they say this time!
Best wishes to your mum.
Fingers crossed your mum is ok Chris - I know only too well that âI donât want to be any botherâ patter.
Yesterday with my mum who, after three days of being unwell with what she thought was food poisoning, fainted in her bathroom and cracked her head splitting it open quite badly. She eventually phoned me after couple of hours lying on a freezing tiled floor.
Refused to go the A&E so I had to get her warmed up and dress the wound on her head and try to get some fluids into her.
The doc saw her today and suspects she has viral enteritis and has been badly dehydrated - sheâs on the mend but it could take up to another week for her to fully recover.
Stubborn as an old goat 
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Jesus, that is awful. Best of luck Chris. Parents are a feckinâ nightmareâŚ
Sheâs still in A&E waiting on a blood transfusion, she has a very rare type so they are having to get it delivered.
Apparently they are very concerned as the red blood count dropped from 59 last night to 52 this morning and below 50 is high risk of death.
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My dad is in hospital right now. I had to send this to PALS on Thursday, then spend an hour on the phone to them:
â
I am contacting you regarding the care quality that my father is receiving in H1 hospital. His name is xxxxx. He is an in-patient in xxxxx.
The patient is 80 years old, and very ill with multiple cancers. He is currently largely bed-bound, although that may improve with good care. It is clear that he is close to end of life.
The palliative care teams at H2 Hospice and at H1 have created protocols for managing his pain, which is extreme at times. This has involved fentanyl patches and oxycodone orally. With this regime he has been much better, and the pain is manageable.
Unfortunately, there have been several failures to follow the protocol, resulting in sometimes extreme pain. These failures have been entirely the fault of the hospital not following the protocol created by the palliative care team.
The first failure came when he was admitted to H1 over a week ago, and was given morphine for his pain rather than oxycodone. This causes a bad reaction with him (as is known by the palliative care team), and he was unable to open his bowels for ten days; this exacerbates the pain dramatically, and has further health impacts.
The second failure was yesterday, when he was taken to the H3 hospital for radiotherapy. He was away from H1 from early morning until about 5pm, and was given no pain medication whatsoever in all that time. He was also not provided with food he can actually eat, despite clear instructions about what is suitable.
When he returned from the H3 to H1 he was screaming in pain (his consultant, Dr L, was there and can verify this). The ambulance team were unwilling to leave him until he received pain relief, and this was eventually provided. However, further pain relief that evening was not provided, despite the protocol clearly stating that oxycodone can be provided every two hours.
I consider these failures to be egregious; to leave a seriously ill patient in such extreme pain is unforgivable. I know that my father is close to death, but he has the right to dignity and freedom from pain. There is a clear protocol for managing his pain that has not been followed. It is an awful failure by the hospitals.
I would like the hospital trust to prioritise the management of my fatherâs pain immediately. He needs to be in an appropriate ward/facility where his complex medical and care needs can be managed (if necessary, H2 if H1 is unable to do so).
I would also like to understand how such failures can occur. How can patient transfers for treatment result in no medication being provided for eight hours? How can the palliative care protocol fail to be followed? These are basic care requirements and the trust is clearly negligent if it cannot follow these.
Please respond immediately on the first point regarding pain management. For further information or discussion, please use this email account or the following phone numbers
â
Since Thursday, there have been two meetings with the palliative care team, and heâs been getting his meds fine. The ward consultant has been in to see him several times, and had a long chat with my mother. He has improved dramatically: now out of pain, he can walk using a frame, and has been up and about, and has had physio several times to help with this.
Itâs just awful that really ill people can be dumped into wards with a nurse: patient ratio of 1:12 or worse. My dad had a bed without a working call button, and his voice is very weak after covid damaged his vocal chords. He just got left.
The combination of dreadful underfunding, poor systems and hurried, stressed medical workers is something that has received a fair bit of attention, but when itâs someone close to you itâs just terrible. There is also the guilt that by making a bit of noise, other patients will now be getting less attention. Itâs just so upsetting seeing things this way.
/vent
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So sorry to read the difficulties you and your father are having with getting the right care. Also sorry to hear of your mum still in A&E Chris.
I know itâs a worrying time as I am on edge about my own frail mums mastectomy planned for Monday. Itâs what she wants though and they are taking lots of precautions in how she is sedated due to a previous stroke.
That is a hard read Adam.
Well done for standing up for your Dad, I hope he is now more comfortable
It is a real worry that others (without the benefit of your advocacy) are not getting the care that they deserve.
I know from my time working in the hospice system how much expertise there is, and how important pain management is regarded, and how little this seems to be understood in the wider NHS.
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Unfortunately the Trust he is at has well known problems. It was featured on national news recently, and the issues raised in the news report were very similar to what we are experiencing. He is clearly not the only one.
The whole situation is just grim tbh, the service is in dire straits and winter has only just begun.
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Well done for getting the immediate situation sorted although itâs truly awful that you have to resort to that kind of action.
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Despite an upturn in the care at hospital my dad died yesterday.
I guess that 25 years of a comfortable retirement together is more than most people can reasonably expect, but itâs going to be difficult for my mum. Her health issues were really serious a year or two ago, but sheâs now fixed and can probably expect to live ten years or more. Itâs a grim time, really.
That is terrible news Adam. Iâm very sorry for your loss.
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