"My 82 year old dad"

My dad who has vascular dementia,was recently admitted with COPD exasperation.

Friday, he was put on oxygen, an antibiotic drip and a fluid drip, due to him not eating.Then they moved him onto AMU, the following day and was transferred to ward T8.

Saturday, They moved him again onto a side ward on his own, due to him being disruptive. They wanted to send him home that today,but the doctor thought another night may do him good.

Sunday, My father was falling asleep in his chair. I brought him a jam sandwich (his favorite) as he will not eat lettuce or meat, as he will not wear dentures!, he had a drink as well.

Monday, my father seems a lot better in himself.

Wednesday, My daughter, a friend and myself visited him, he was shaking and looked ill, he could not walk by himself to the toilet, he had to be assisted. My daughter noticed that his pupils were huge.

Thursday, He had deteriorated that much, that we asked to see a doctor and we waited till nearly 10 pm for the only doctor to come up from A & E. I asked several times if he had a temperature and I was told it was normal, the nurse on the reception told me, he can't keep coming in here with this problem and said that he was there because we could not cope at home. I told her that it is not that we can't cope with him at home, i do not have a supply of antibiotics and that he had been seen already by his doctor, who had given him a different antibiotic to the one that he was taking before he was admitted, i do not have oxygen at home nor do i have fluids on a drip.I had checked his oxygen levels before i phoned his doctor, The doctor told me to get an ambulance as his Oxygen reading was 69 and fluctuating. The comments the nurse made really offended me.

Friday, I went down to see the social worker and we found out they had put him on diazepam, now it all made sense, we now know why he could not walk to the toilet. A night nurse that had just come on duty, came in to check his temperature and ran around the other side of the bed opening all the windows. My father was complaining of a sore throat and the nurses struggled to get him to swallow two paracetamol, to bring his temperature down. The doctor came up about 10pm, we told him what had happened, he asked us did we really think he had deteriorated we said yes, we did, he told us that he would gets bloods done.

Saturday, at the hospital today they still have my father on paracetamol, with the addition of urinary catheter, despite nurses telling me he had been up to the toilet, they still had not addressed his sore throat and blood had not been done till i got there. I told the doctors and told them that i do not want him on diazepam, as far as i am concerned they have just taken his legs away.

Tuesday, My father has done nothing but be sick today, changed him three times.

Thursday, They have moved him again, he is on F7 now, looked like he had been punched in the face, has a big thick upper lip, asked him to open his mouth, it was covered in what looks like either step, bacterial tonsillitis  or a really bad case of thrush.They were trying to tell me it was flem. Asked for him to see a doctor, I phoned the hospital twice during the night to see if a doctor had been to see him, one nurse told me they knew nothing about it.I asked again for him to see a doctor, the nurse told me that they'd would beep one, i said that i would phone back later. I Phoned at 3.11 in the morning. I was told he has been prescribed Nystatins, I asked what his diagnosis was, the nurse told me they would phone me back. They did not phone me back like they said they would.

Friday, Spoke to nurse on ward they told me that his prescription had not come up from the pharmacy yet.

Sunday, My Father was Totally out of it today on morphine.

Monday, My daughter is with him ,still nil by mouth, they are saying that food has gone onto his lungs. They are wanting to know if he is to be fed by tubes being inserted, they need to speak to me. Just read up on this, dysphagia. The primary symptom of esophageal thrush is dysphagia, which means difficulty in swallowing, as esophageal candidiasis involves the development of multiple white patches inside of the esophagus. Other symptoms of esophageal thrush can include: pain when swallowing. burning or itching in the throat or back of the mouth. I now ask the question is this because this was not addressed sooner? Do family members have to point things out to staff for it to be addressed? My Father may not matter to anyone else, but he does to us (his family).