Dad had an appointment today with his new specialist, a very lovely lady. He coped very well with the whole journey and I must say it was well worth it.
She was very thorough, going through his history, showing us his various scans and talking us through them. (No-one's done that before). She talked solely to dad, wasn't patronising or condescending and asked dad what he wanted to know etc and how he wanted their discussion to proceed, he said tell it like it is and so she did. Having established all the facts, she made it clear that there was no medical treatment that would help dad and that nothing would stop it's progression. She also spoke about medical intervention, should dad go into hospital again and had an end of life chat in a way. I have to say though that whilst she was very professional she was also 'human' as well if you know what I mean. I swallowed down many tears thankfully.
After that, she discussed a transplant option and saw no reason why dad couldn't be put forward for consideration to the Papworth. She confirmed that various tests done on other organs showed positive and that she could not see why we couldn't take the next step. So now, we just have to wait for dad to have the various tests done to see if his body is up to it etc and wait for communication from the Papworth. She is writing to them immediately, not waiting for the tests to get the ball rolling. She also has made an appointmnet with dad for 3 months time saying that she sees no reason to doubt that dad will still be here, quashing any fears we had about dads prognosis.
She has also, put him on a different inhaler to try and started him on preventative antibiotics to try and keep him fit and well in the meantime.
Both me and dad left feeling on top of the world. So much so that when we got in the car I asked dad what was the colour like, (meaning on his oxygen cylinder as he was running out of o2) and he looked at his hands saying 'not bad, not bad'!!!!!!!!
x
My dad
my dad and copd
