Being diligent

[Paul_and_Sue_Wood]

Hi All

Another story for you and how we all should remain diligent and keep your history to hand.

One thing I have done for a while with my Sue is to monitor her O2, pulse and temperature, the main reason is to spot the signs of any signs of infections. I do this twice a day.

I came home the other day and Sue was quite tired and complained of a bit of discomfort in her chest, which could have been indigestion which is normal and also being more dizzy than normal. We thought nothing of it and she went to bed at 9pm, slightly earlier than normal.

Checked her pulse---140bpm! checked another finger as a check and its 80. Checked another finger 120, cross-checked the finger machine against my Garmin watch that has heart rate and both at 60.... hmmmmmm. I check Sue again and it's 120 and 75... So I decide to change the batteries and the same results again so I dial 111....

After a chat, they refer me to a health professional who calls me back within 5 minutes.

By then all fingers are showing 75 /80 bpm!!! I am confused as Sue shows no other symptoms temp normal, O2 normal, not breathless or sweating and no crushing pains.

The nurse decides that we need an ambulance to check her out...

2 Hours later they turn up to check her out and guess what its 80bpm... THEN as they are watching and chatting to Sue it jumps to 140bpm... They ask about Sues underlying condition and her recent release and meds which I have to hand and they decide hospital... blue lights again......

At the hospital I have to relay Sue history prognosis and meds to the emergency team...think 24 hours in A&E..... They can conclude quickly what it is and Sue now has a resting heart rate of 170bpm....... They give Sue a "really nasty" drug to slow her heart to normal which works and keep her in.

Final prognosis after further chats with cardio and chest specialists is SVT caused my MSA... Don't know if it will or will not happen again just monitor and if it does 999.

What did i get out of this... Monitor your loved one regular, think ahead, ask questions, keep records so you can educate and aid the medical professionals.

We are now back home and normal.. as we can be.

Self isolation, Sue has no choice as she has no mobility....So we barrier care and I wash regularly.

Keep Safe all of you as much as you can.

[Hidden]

That photo is absolutely gorgeous. Respect to you for your diligence. A reminder that family carers can be highly skilled. Kx

[Diane831]

Geoff has a patch like that, they called it atrial flutter and put him on something ( can’t remember its name now) which seemed to control it. Later after a short Hospice respite he decided not to take any drugs that weren’t just for immediate symptom relief so stopped that and his statins. However the atrial flutter never came back! I also had an Oxygen and pulse monitor as well as a thermometer and blood pressure monitor. It helps to know if you should be asking for help and also you can give facts to the doctor not just vague feelings about what is going on.

You two are doing so well. I hope that this admission and the barrier nursing don’t upset your balance of life.