Support when caring for my mum

[Kittysmom]

Hello! I’m new here and looking for a little bit of support, my mum who turned 73 in February suffered a HA in January and had 3 stents fitted to her right coronary artery, she didn’t recover as well as expected and a novocor heart monitor showed she had severe brachycardia (10bpm with gaps of up to 4.1seconds!!) she was fitted with a pacemaker on 5th March and less than a week later went into respiratory failure and was again rushed to hospital, she has now been told she has a leaking mitral valve and severe heart failure but isn’t strong enough for a replacement valve. I was wondering if anyone else on here has a loved one or is themselves in a similar situation? Mum has been sent home with no follow up arrangements and I really don’t know what happens next? I feel like we are in limbo? Any support and help is really appreciated ! We are in total isolation due to Covid19 and it’s getting a tad lonely!

[Nathan53]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you are both having a tough time. Sorry I don't have experience of heart failure issues. I would try giving the BHF Nurses a call on Monday to ask advice on whether your Mum is on all possible medications available and a way forward in securing some professional support. I understand she should be assigned a Heart failure Nurse for example. Also has your Mum seen a Social Worker to assess Care needs. It's good that she has you at home but you can't do it all if her care needs are high. You can contact BH F Nurse by calling 0300 330 3311

I know it must extra difficult having to isolate. You may have to resign yourself to being assertive if you need to contact GP, Social worker or Cardiology. I know they are under tremendous pressure with Covid19 but you do need some answers which only professionals can give.

Keep in touch when you can and thinking of you both

[Kittysmom in reply to Nathan53]

Thank you so very much for this advice, it’s most helpful. I did think that mum should be assigned a heart failure nurse but I’m guessing that due to the current situation we are all in then it’s just been overlooked. I will get in touch with BHF to see what they say, their web pages have been most helpful.

[shopman]

Another great source of info particularly for those with heart failure can be found at pumpingmarvellous.org/

[Kittysmom in reply to shopman]

Many thanks, I’ll check that out!