Am I crazy to be trying to avoid hospitals like the plague? My husband with dementia has lung problems as well and I can hear that he has some congestion, but I feel like I want to try to do things here, to try to avoid a hospital trip. He is generally stable, so this is not a usual thing, but I just cannot face the long ER wait times with him to be seen, and even the thought of a hospitalization, which I don't know that he needs, is enough to send me running the other way. I know he will get delirium again if he is hospitalized, and that is not something I want to happen, much less the decline from that with his dementia that seems to linger.
You stated that you “want to try to do things here” when your husband has problems with his lung congestion. The question that you should ask yourself is are you prepared to take on this role when you don’t have the equipment to perform the lifesaving techniques on your husband? The hospital is the best place for your husband to be for his medical condition as they have the equipments and doctors and nurses who are trained to take on your husband’s care.
Call EMS for transit.
Make up whatever lie you must. Unable to breathe. Low 02 sats. Grimacing with pain and clutching chest.
The ambulance delivers DIRECTLY to the cubical. You take him in you will cool your heels endlessly in the waiting room.
And the answer, if you want him to live and he is not (like me) a DNR, then you do not ignore heart and lungs. This could be pneumonia, long considered the old man's friend because it TAKES him to his end. This could be CHF and his heart could be in failure.
That's this old retired RN's suggestions.