My husband has recently been diagnosed with Cirrhosis and has just returned home from nearly 3 weeks in hospital.
Since returning home he is suffering from ascites and has a very swollen abdomen. Swollen ankles and is short of breath.
In hospital he was drained for 9 hours and has multiple tests run. Due to Covid I was unable to visit or see the doctor caring from him. I did speak to them to find out what to do to care for him on his return home and was just told no alcohol and low salt diet, that's all.
I am not sleeping and have been signed off work with stress and anxiety. I don't feel I can return to work whilst caring for him and as we haven't been given much information or a treatment plan i am scared what to do to care for him and if I'll lose him.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Written by
Cat1976
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Sorry to hear of the situation you find yourselves in. It brings back memories of when my hubby was first diagnosed with cirrhosis and also spent three weeks in hospital back in April 2012. I remember how scary it was and that was when I was able to spend time with him on the ward and chat with consultant, it must be really hellish to not have had that proper feed back from hospital.
I found my way to the British Liver Trust when hubby was first in hospital and I found the web page a gold mine of useful information.
You might find the pages on cirrhosis, alcohol related liver disease and all the stuff about living with a liver condition plus the patient charter pages really useful. The BLT also have a very useful helpline which might provide good support to you.
So sorry to hear about your situation .... Emergency Nurse told me if you can't lay down flat of back and are short of breath and limbs are swelling, absolutely is best to get back to hospital for emergency medical care ASAP ... don't wait!
this must be a really difficult time for both of you. It is such an enormous thing to try and take in and I am sure you must have lots of questions you have now.
Your husband should have a hospital discharge summary with all the meds on it and what they are for, next steps when he should be seen and also the Consultants name/s. If you need help, make contact via the Consultants Secretary or if there are Liver nurses! Often a lot of the info is ‘medical speak’ and you may need them to clarify what some things mean!
They may have prescribed water tablets to try and control the swelling, however I know that it is very uncomfortable and he may need further draining of the fluid to help make him comfortable and that usually can be done as a day patient (where I live they can). Just my personal experience as I am not medical.
Speak to the nurses on here for sUp port and do use their information! Also reading some of the patient stories can really help too!
If your husband gets really poorly get him straight back to the hospital, don’t wait!
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