Hi sorry for mistakes but I don't speak English.
My father refused amputation a month ago. Because of the PAD. His toes are black and shiny. He has sores and blisters. His CRP is 260. He suffers from heart failure and COPD. Does anyone know what will happen now?
A friend who was in your father's difficult situation also refused amputation. He died after 3 weeks in hospice care. He didn't suffer because they kept him comfortable.
I am very sorry and wish you luck in finding peace.
Amputation is a painful & very burdonsome procedure. It is a very serious decision to make. I hope his medical team have told him & yourself their honest opinions: for the amputation & and against.
Doctors do not do amputations except as the last resort and as a life-saving measure. Does your father understand that?
It is time to have a good sitdown with your Dad, his doctor and yourself--interpretor as needed, to discuss the outcome. Your father will likely qualify for end-of-life care through hospice if he wishes to continue in this refusal; I hope he will not. The black and shiny does sound like a symptom of gangrene. This will spread deep into the tissues, and it is deadly. The odor alone of the decomposing flesh will be overwhelming to all around your father.
I hope he can be dissuaded from this deadly decision, but at times patients cannot.
I hope you will update us after you and your father meet with a surgeon to discuss.
Is he getting hospice services? He needs to be kept in a sedated state and out of pain.
The doctors have not told you what will happen with out the amputation? Your father may also be suffering from poor circulation. Not enough blood getting to the toes. The black is probably gangrene. Its were the tissue dies and eventually will cause sepsis which can kill.
Also, with your Dads heart and lung problems, going under may be a big problem for him. Having a leg amputated can shock his system. There the healing and the pain. You Dad has probably weighted all the info and found he rather not put himself thru it.