She has been in rehab for maybe four weeks. Went in after a blocked small intestine blockage operation. Today the nurse called me to say she has laboured breathing today. And swelling in her back, legs and arm. Yesterday and before that she was eating and talking fine. She has congestive heart disease. But was never real bad. And she has been on oxygen since going into rehab.
I would be. If it isn't treated it will get worse. She needs to be peeing a lot to get it off. That's hard on the kidneys so it's a catch 22. Best to not let it get built up. That's why she should weigh everyday.
Take a look at all the stuff you can ignore or put on hold, then rest a few moments.
You can even ignore our answers, then keep checking back until you are better.
This rapid amount of swelling could indicate CHF, but it might be something else. I don't know what her co-morbidities are so I won't even try to guess.
There's another med that's used for eliminiation of fluids; it's Bumex and is from what I've been told multiple times as effective as Lasix. It also acts more quickly.
That's one of the signs. It (fluid) probably has been inching up. That's why I asked you about the weight. When she has an episode it will take a while to recover. It's hard work to get the fluid off. Unless she has a foley it's a lot of getting up all hours to go to the bathroom. Make sure she has a bedside commode if she is able and someone to watch her so she doesn't fall. If she's in diapers they won't hold it. It's not easy getting up several times a night to pee. Ask what they plan to do to help her.
I get the impression that you aren't there so you'll need to push for help. Learn about CHF so you know how to stay on top of her symptoms. You can't trust others to do it. Your mom needs to be weighed daily. It's much easier to monitor than to recover. When she gets it off make sure she sticks with a salt free diet. That you have a clear action plan on when to increase the Lasix. That she figure out just how much liquid she needs. If she is on warfarin she needs a consistent diet so that her blood stays at the right viscosity to prevent a stroke. A person can live a long time with CHF but it has to be monitored. Stress can aggravate it so you can't be thinking well I ate this before and it didn't bother me, etc. She has to weigh. It's very difficult to buy food that doesn't have salt. Eating in a rehab is hard. Eating almost anywhere but at home is hard. Even there it's hard because things like raw chicken has had salt water added. If someone brings her a hamburger that can be really bad. Usually it what's you do 80% of the time that matters with your diet. With CHF it's more like 90% of the time if not more. First thing every morning, after peeing, weigh. When the weight goes up, usually 2 lbs in one day, 5 lbs in a week, go up on the Lasix. Some people are more sensitive than that. Everyone is a little different. Work out guidelines with your dr. If there is a heart transplant center in your area they generally work very well with CHF patients over the phone ( after initial consult of course). If I were you I would insist on a trip to the ER. If I had her home and she had these symptoms I'd drive her to the best ER I could get to. In my mothers case it was 3 hours away. That's where we went to a leading cadio hospital. Saved time in the long run. The symptoms and the treatment are pretty much the same but the level of care and attention paid make a world of difference. I don't mean to make erroneous assumptions but you can't fool around with CHF when the patient is in failure. There are blood tests that show the level of saturation. Ask them what they are doing and then what next. Ask if they are restricting fluids. Ask if it is posted in her room or on her door.
tonight. I dont know how much more stress I can take. It's not just
her. But other stuff in my daily life.
Barbara
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