It's All Gone Horribly Wrong...
Where should I start?
Thursday night Mum was in pain so they gave her some Morphine around 9pm...around 3am the same thing happened but she what was what and did manage to sleep. I came home around 8am and managed approx 6 hours sleep. Unbeknown to me they gave Mum some more at 8.30am.
Which might explain why she was staring into space and quite sleepy when I went in at 5pm.
However, I manged to feed her some tea and she ate what was served and we were happy.
They gave Mum some more at 7pm.
I stayed with Mum all of last night and around 3pm she went to sleep and slept peacefully and calmly but around 7.30am this morning started trembling/shaking/twitching and the nurse on duty wasn't happy. And told me not to go home.
The Manager of the home came for 8am and decided Mum should be given another dose of morphine and should now be given it every 4 hours. She has even talked of a syringe driver(which isn't good)
But when Mum does manage to communicate she still says she is not off her food and drink. And wants to but if she under the influence of morphine and getting so much how can she wake up enough to get the nourishment into her?
A friend who used work in a London hospital as a nurse and also has worked in care homes(including the one Mum is in)and has worked for the charity Marie Curie saying shaking could be a reaction to the morphine or a chest infection. Staring into space is another so perhaps they should hold off and see if she comes back to normal? Or am I clutching at straws?
If I got a Dr out at the weekend it would probably be a locum but if Mum could hang on until Monday I could talk to her/our Dr and get an opinion. It may not happen for a few days or she could surprise us all again...
Another resident is in for respite and has many things wrong with him and he's on maximum doses of morphine and says all the symptoms Mum has(he has had)and he thinks it could be a reaction to the morphine too and he says don't write Mum off. He thinks its a good sign they have not called in a Dr so there are more positives? I don't know.
It's all happened so quickly.
I'm getting ready to go and see her again, I only popped home for a couple of hours to do a few jobs that need doing.
I can't even talk to the Macmillan cancer charity helpline as its only open Mon-Fri 9am-8pm(I'd have thought many could do with help and advice at weekends)
Oh well...
Thursday night Mum was in pain so they gave her some Morphine around 9pm...around 3am the same thing happened but she what was what and did manage to sleep. I came home around 8am and managed approx 6 hours sleep. Unbeknown to me they gave Mum some more at 8.30am.
Which might explain why she was staring into space and quite sleepy when I went in at 5pm.
However, I manged to feed her some tea and she ate what was served and we were happy.
They gave Mum some more at 7pm.
I stayed with Mum all of last night and around 3pm she went to sleep and slept peacefully and calmly but around 7.30am this morning started trembling/shaking/twitching and the nurse on duty wasn't happy. And told me not to go home.
The Manager of the home came for 8am and decided Mum should be given another dose of morphine and should now be given it every 4 hours. She has even talked of a syringe driver(which isn't good)
But when Mum does manage to communicate she still says she is not off her food and drink. And wants to but if she under the influence of morphine and getting so much how can she wake up enough to get the nourishment into her?
A friend who used work in a London hospital as a nurse and also has worked in care homes(including the one Mum is in)and has worked for the charity Marie Curie saying shaking could be a reaction to the morphine or a chest infection. Staring into space is another so perhaps they should hold off and see if she comes back to normal? Or am I clutching at straws?
If I got a Dr out at the weekend it would probably be a locum but if Mum could hang on until Monday I could talk to her/our Dr and get an opinion. It may not happen for a few days or she could surprise us all again...
Another resident is in for respite and has many things wrong with him and he's on maximum doses of morphine and says all the symptoms Mum has(he has had)and he thinks it could be a reaction to the morphine too and he says don't write Mum off. He thinks its a good sign they have not called in a Dr so there are more positives? I don't know.
It's all happened so quickly.
I'm getting ready to go and see her again, I only popped home for a couple of hours to do a few jobs that need doing.
I can't even talk to the Macmillan cancer charity helpline as its only open Mon-Fri 9am-8pm(I'd have thought many could do with help and advice at weekends)
Oh well...
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 3:58 pm
9 Comments:
Not good news, Gildy.
Are they giving your mum morphine even when she isn't in pain?
Hope things take a turn for the better.
We're all thinking of you. x
I hope things will be better for both of you when you go back. Take care.
I don’t even know the way I finished up right here, however I assumed this publish was great. I do not realize who you are but definitely you are going to be a well-known blogger in case you are not already. Cheers!
Thanks Keira,
Fame for all the wrong reasons...
Thanks Anon...
That's what I worry about VQ and if she will still take nourishment how do I get into her if I cannot wake up enough to take it.
The symptoms would seem to be caused by the morphine...dare I say because it is a Christian Care Home could there be an element of them trying to do a bit of euthanasia(sp?)and easing her out of life before she is really ready to go...I know that sounds drastic and they have rules to follow but...two or three have gone this week already...
Of course I'll be told I am being paranoid and am looking for a reason...
Not paranoid, Gildy. Just realistic. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.
Thinking of you both. x
Gildy - big hugs to you. Thinking of you. xx
They're a Christian care home , why should they be trying to speed up your mother's death ? Anyway if she died & a doctor had't seen her in the previous few days, there'd have to be a post mortom, so there's no way they'd be overdosing her with Morphine now.
I guess I did not quite put my words right in my comment.
I found that Mum a couple of times this week was seemingly being given it, not always because it was asked for and because the frequency had been increased the symptoms/effects of the drug were more pronounced. Not being able to respond and staring into space.
I did become concerned in that this means that because she was sleeping and/or was being moved into various positions(to avoid bedsores)it was difficult to get any nutrition into Mum in the hope that she may improve.
The other problem was that the overnight nurse last night only wanted to use little star shaped sponges around the inside of Mum's mouth soaked in water whereas I was sure that I could get small amounts of liquid using a syringe and I did earlier this morning with some tea.
They had previously given Mum mophine at 9am but I still managed to get some porridge and tea into Mum and some fortified milk shake later but once she was asleep/dosed up nothing between 11am to my tea delivered by a syringe today.
I started to think Mum was being neglected on that score but might've accepted all that could be being done was if I had heard it from a Dr and I am beating myself up wondering why a Dr never came to see Mum when she was in home as a follow up after coming out of hospital. Or why I did not ask for one to call.
And I was actually in the process of doing so but our surgery does not open until tomorrow.
I phoned this morning our area's version of NHS Direct for advice and they said they understood my worries but advised that I see my GP tomorrow and they have sent an e-mail to tell them that I had contacted their service and what it was about.
By the way the home was started years ago by a Dr and years later that same Dr faced accusations in court and bodies being exhumed because there were questions about terminal patients having their lives possibly cut short but nothing was proven and though big on the local news(and some reports went national)that was about it.
Perhaps you can see where I am coming from.
However, to some extent though I'd have liked to ask whether too much was morphine was being used, I must not beat myself up over that, it doesn't matter any more...it might if I thought I'd failed Mum...
Post a Comment
<< Home