Hospital Update!

Thursday 5th January
At lunch time I went to see the Ward Manager to discuss Father's progress and requested that he is discharged to the care home, as soon as he is medically fit. I also met with the Speech Therapist and she recommended that Father should now be 'Puree 2' Diet and have 1.5 scoops of thickener in all his drinks. He coughed and choked far too much on normal liquids and on 'Soft Diet'.

The catheter had been removed and everything was working normally. The gel had been applied around Father's mouth/lips and it looked like it had almost healed, so it must have been applied regularly since the previous night.

This evening, Father had to have a blood transfusion (1 litre of blood) as his hemoglobin level was low, because of the blood loss over the past few days. The staff nurse wanted him to keep his arm straight during the transfusion, so I decided to stay for the three hours this took, to ensure his arm remained straight! He was more settled this evening as the Resperidone was now being given. I was told that if Father's blood test was ok tomorrow morning, that he would be able to return to the care home!

Father still seemed sad and said "I'm not going to get out of this one" – I promised him that he had and that he would be going home this week – "I'll take your word for it" he said. He continually said he was cold, as the transfusion was taking place – I had forgotten how cold this makes you feel. I had 3 litres of blood given to me when I was dangerously anaemic, many years ago and it reminded me of how it makes you feel – it feels like ice trickling through your veins!

When the transfusion had finished, a very nice Staff Nurse told me that Father had been crying so much during the night (Wednesday night) that he had sat and written his notes next to Father's room to keep him company – how kind of him. I left Father settled and returned home.