are the hrs 9am - 5pm the same working hrs to talk to the cardio nurse for advice on the phone please

[mitchell48]

i'm more than a little worried about my husband tonight, Saw his cardio consultant on wed, Mri stress test results show his heart has gotten worse now at 35%, He is now being added to the Defib waiting list, But yesterday he was "off colour" and started to have the telltale cough, Today he is tired, looks grey, has water retention, has been feeling sick and sweaty, His weight has gone up by 8lb since last week, sorry but no matter how many times i ask him to do this daily he won't

[Shar28]

Hello, sorry to hear you’re worried about your husband. Mine has done that to me before now and it’s so hard to know what to do for best. If he’s been an in-patient for his cardio condition recently you could try calling the ward otherwise it would be speaking with 111 as the BHF nurses are weekdays 9am to 5pm.

Best wishes to you both. X

[mitchell48 in reply to Shar28]

thank you so much, The last time he was in hospital was April and 111 are not much help, i will keep a close eye and if anything else worries me it will be a 999 call no matter what he says

[Lezzers in reply to mitchell48]

I understand your worries, I'm the same with my husband but if in doubt I always call 999 or at least 111. My husband has an ICD fitted.

[Lezzers]

Yes, the nurses are Monday to Friday 9-5. I would get your husband medical attention, maybe call 999 and let the paramedics check him over. It may simply be a virus but better to be safe then sorry My husband is supposed to weigh himself daily as well but won't. His EF is 30.

[Calliope153 in reply to Lezzers]

ring 999 and get an ambulance paramedic to check him over. You may get the rapid response paramedic who will tell you what to do next. Sounds like a hospital check in A and E sooner rather than later may be the way ahead. You can;t deal with this yourself - get help as soon as you can. And that means don;t dither - ring for help. Best wishes.

[Lezzers in reply to Calliope153]

Hi calliope 152, fortunately my husband is fine, it's Mitchell48 who's post this is. But I definitely agree with you.

[Calliope153 in reply to Lezzers]

oops sorry - trying to reply to her quickly - if you remember her husband has multiple problems and she sounds like she is struggling tonight - hope she sees the reply....

[Lezzers in reply to Calliope153]

I hope she calls 999, yes it does sound like she's struggling. Have just read previous posts, I hope they're both OK.

[Calliope153]

ring 999 and get an ambulance paramedic to check him over. You may get the rapid response paramedic who will tell you what to do next. Sounds like a hospital check in A and E sooner rather than later may be the way ahead. You can;t deal with this yourself - get help as soon as you can. And that means don;t dither - ring for help. Best wishes.

[mitchell48 in reply to Calliope153]

i'm just off to check on him again now

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to Calliope153]

Seconded!

[mitchell48]

This man will be the death of me! He won't have me dial 999 But i will admit he has improved loads in the last hr, He no longer looks grey he is not sweaty, he doesn't feel sick, he has no chest pain or tightness and even the dreaded cough has stopped, I must point out that Mitch has silent heart attacks, Anything what so ever happens tonight and if i'm worried again i am calling 999 and i don't care what he has to say! Sometimes this worry gets too much, I do feel that i have been left to get on with things

[Lezzers in reply to mitchell48]

I'm glad to hear your husband is much improved, I hope that is still the case. Would still be a good idea to get him checked out if he'll agree. Take care

[mitchell48 in reply to Lezzers]

thank you

[Calliope153]

I hope you had an undisturbed night and both feel more rested. My husband says that the worry when I look horrible (more so than usual I hope he means) and sweaty is much more wearing/exhausting than when I had the heart attack and told him not to bother to get help as "it's nothing". If he hadn;t ignored me (4 hours later) and rung 111 I wouldn;t be typing this to you...... 100% blocked artery and no pain. The 111 operator swiftly called an ambulance I was just lucky he got that particular operator. I tell you this story so in your head you know that you are absolutely right to call for help when you are concerned. So what if it turns out to be nothing? Take care and very best wishes. Have a quiet day to recover from the worry.

[mitchell48 in reply to Calliope153]

Thank you, Yes i have done the very same thing a number of times, 3 times i did the right call, once he had a quadruple bypass, last Dec he had stents, April there was nothing they could do only watch and send him home the next day, Since then he was taken in with angina attack again watch and then sent home, I don't doubt something was going on last night, He is much better and brighter this morning and has in fact gone out to see his mum, But this morning he has had a right telling off and told from now on if i feel he needs to be seen he will! and he will have no say in the matter!

[Lezzers in reply to mitchell48]

Such a worry for you. My husband can be difficult when he's poorly, I do feel for you

[mitchell48 in reply to Lezzers]

It is just that i have always seemed to know when he is going to become ill, It's the odd little pants of breath, the not spending a penny so often, Coughing at night, That grey look that can turn flashed pink then the angina pain that we had twice last weekend, Things seem to build up over a few weeks, But fingers crossed we are ok now

[Lezzers in reply to mitchell48]

I always know when my husband is poorly as well, we recognise the signs. My husband was poorly not so long ago, wouldn't let me call 111. I reminded him of what happened last time he was poorly, 5 mins later he said make the call!!

[PMT123]

Hi, Cardiology Secretary of 20 years here. Heart failure nurses generally work office hours and dont answer out with those times. There is no point calling the cardiology ward, they will tell you the exact same as I'm going to and thats to go to your local A&E department. I take it your husband has heart failure? 8lbs of water weight in a week is a lot. You could call NHS24 for advice, they might suggest increasing his diuretic depending on his current dose and should be able to have a look at his most recent blood results on computer to check kidney function and make sure it would be ok to do so, that might help over the weekend until you can check with the nurses but if you are really concerned A&E is the best place.

I'm sure you are already aware that heart failure patients are advised to stick to no more than 1.5 litres of fluid a day.

I hope you both had a settled night and your husband is a bit better. It can be really worrying over the weekend when you can't phone the nurses for advice.

Gillian

[mitchell48 in reply to PMT123]

Thank you Gillian,

We do-not have a local A+E it is some 30 miles away, Which isn't a problem for me to drive to as a rule but it is when i'm on my own and there is a chance of hubby having a heart attack sat next to me in the dark, Hubby is a double bka too, It's hard i make sure that i keep a eye on fluid intake but if i turn my back he can have 1pt of milk in 1 sitting of cornflakes! Yes i do give an extra 20mg Furosmide on GP advice when i know about the weight gain, the problem is getting hubby on the scales! I record his weight and any extra meds he has, He has come down by 1lb overnight, He has had his normal meds early this morning and i have just given him his 1 extra Furosmide at 11am, He is coughing less this morning once up, If i have anymore concerns with him over the weekend it will be 999 and he will have no say, The last time in May i called 111 they had a Doctor call me at 2am some 4 hrs after i made the call, i was told to take him to the GP in the morning, GP saw us and she was so worried she wouldn't let us leave, She called 999, Off we went to A+E They kept us there for the day, Watched and waited, Said they had ref hubby to Angina Pain Clinic and asked for a MRI Heart Stress Test Scan to be done, We have never heard from the pain clinic, Stress test was done 10 days ago, Consultants app hubby had this week was the follow up for Aprils Heart Attack, It just so happened that he could read scan results,

Hubby was under the care of a nurse lead heart clinic held at our local hospital, Which was great, If i had any worries there was a number to call, But they signed him off as fit and well a year ago, Our GP tried to ref him back again, It didn't happen, At the consultants app this week i brought this up and his reply shocked me, He said "What you see and hear about the NHS is largely true, I have no nurses who can see you, There are no app until around next April with the nurse lead clinic"

I checked on hubby every 20 mins through the night, He spent a penny at 5am and again at 9am, He looks brighter, sounds better so fingers crossed whatever happened last night has passed, He has now gone out to visit his mother, Phew, Thank you so much for your advice

[Desanthony in reply to mitchell48]

You can still call the nurses at the nurse led clinic even though he has been signed off. They can be the best people to call for some things. Only problem I have is getting hold of them as they are so busy.

[mitchell48 in reply to Desanthony]

No, i tried, They just say contact your GP

[Desanthony in reply to mitchell48]

Being a bit mean aren't they? My nurses saw me even though I had been signed off for 6 months from their clinic - still I suppose different places will have different rules. My nurses always say to call if I have any problems - which I do. If I don't speak to one of the nurses though I am told to go through my GP so start the ball rolling with the GP but still try and get thtough to the nurses. Last time I did this one of the nurses came in on a day off and saw me early in the morning. Needless to say I have written a letter to the hospital telling them how good the nurses have been.

[mitchell48 in reply to Desanthony]

Wish we had your nurses here, We have a month long wait for a GP app

[Desanthony in reply to mitchell48]

I always get an emergency appointment. All our morning surgery here are emergency appointments. You just turn up and its first come first served.

[mitchell48 in reply to PMT123]

Hi Gillian, Can i please ask, If you happen to know, How long should it take for a ref from the Heart Consultant ie a letter be written up and sent to the Heart Nurse Clinic? so that my husband can stop one drug and start another? Hubby saw his consult two wks ago so i rang the nurse today who said "no sorry haven't got a ref yet try again in another 2 wks if you have not heard anything by then" The thing is he needs to be off the old drug for 1 mth before he can start the new drug, And by the timing so far its going to be two mths before the new drug can be started? I would be very grateful of any advice you can give, many thanks

[PMT123 in reply to mitchell48]

Hi,

I work in Glasgow so can't speak for other hospitals but we have a ten day turnaround time here, meaning from clinic date, consultant dictating letter, it being typed and sent off should take no more than 10 days.

I would suggest you contact the consultants secretary and ask how long it will be until the letter is typed. If it has been dictated she can type it up if not already done or at least give you an idea of when it will be done. As I said i cant speak for other hospitals, they may be really busy but the secretary should be your first port of call.

Hope you get it sorted out soon.

G

[mitchell48 in reply to PMT123]

Thank you, I will be calling the consultants sec at 9am today

[mitchell48 in reply to mitchell48]

I rang three hospitals this morning, Good news the ref for the Defib was done as urgent and will be fitted on the 19th Nov, The ref letter still hasn't been done for the heart nurse clinic so that he can start the new drug, But it was explained to me they have been snowed under and will do the letter now which still needs the consultant to cast his eye over it before it is sent out, I am to call them again next Thurs

[Glasgowgirl1947]

To think our NHS was regarded as the best service in the world!! We're the poor man of Europe now. we were the envy of the world!

[Desanthony in reply to Glasgowgirl1947]

We spend less on our health care than any other country in Europe at present.

[mitchell48]

here lies the problems, Being a double below knee leg amputee, with a dodgy ticker, Failing eye sight T2 diabetic, It is not easy for him to burn carbs off, It takes twice the effort for him to walk than it does me,The odd round of cornflakes isn't going to kill him i was just pointing out how easy it is for water in the body to go up, He has a health review with the GP next week when we are going to bring up the subject of a low carb diet, My Hubby has a once a wk injection called dulalutide, This keeps his blood sugars 100% controlled, So i fully understand low cab high protein way of thinking, But we do-not want to open a can of worms by dropping blood sugars too low, If hubby had been a healthy and of normal weight person who enjoyed a healthy diet as i do myself and was active i would wack him on the low carb diet tomorrow, But sadly it's just not that easy, This morning he had lost the extra 8lb he had gained and i am so pleased

[Inamoment]

Thank you ever so much. This doesn't apply to me but good to learn from your excellent explanation

[mitchell48]

thank you

[mitchell48]

Sadly i have battled my husband for many years over his diet which is mainly carbs, junk food, fat, high protein, He will not touch fruit veg or salad of any type nor rice, He had his eating habits long before i meet him, Having said that he has agreed to start a diet today and for day 1 he has done well, So fingers crossed this time

[Speakeazi]

Honestly I am in awe of the way you look after your husband even if he doesn’t always listen.

I hope that you get a little time to yourself and that you have some local friends or family that you can enjoy a cup of tea or a cinema trip with.

Take care

[mitchell48 in reply to Speakeazi]

Thank you, i do get out to the gym, swimming and work on a saturday afternoon for a couple of hrs in our local SallyAnn shop, I spent 4 yrs stuck at home after giving up my job to care, I now do make time for me