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My mother fell at home and was treated in the ER. She was released to home after three days but was readmitted to the hospital the next day with pneumonia. Still in the hospital three weeks later and bounced in and out of ICU, she still has fluid in her lungs. They used Lasix to draw out the fluid. They also drained fluid from her lungs twice, 1.7 liters and then 1.5 liters. They convinced us to have her transferred to a specialty hospital 2 hours away to decrease her oxygen dependence. So far the treatment is no different than at the other hospital, lasix and breathing treatments. I read "Morphine" on her board. Is this inpatient hospice instead? If she is being given morphine, recovers and is sent home will she need to be weaned from morphine?

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Morphine is often used to ease breathing in patients with CHF.

Are you talking to her treating physician about her prognosis?

Is your mother able to discuss her treatment options with her doctors, or is someone her healthcare proxy?
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We met with her care givers today, nurses and therapists. She is not on morphine. I must have misread something on her board. She had been in hospital for over 25 days and now she is in this acute care hospital. They expect to keep her for 3 weeks. I had no idea that Medicare can run out. She and my Dad are able to discuss treatment plans and make decisions but both have occasional lapses in judgement and misunderstandings. The goal is to reduce the amount of oxygen she needs to what can be managed at home. I'm guessing the fluid on the lungs is what increases the need for supplied oxygen ? She has A Fib, too. I confident in the new hospital now but concerned that it won't be enough improvement to bring her home
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It seems we are still in the same cycle at the new facility, they are using Lasix and high-flow oxygen to curb the fluid build up in the lungs and CT scans to check their progress. She had fluid drained from her lungs twice at the other hospital and they are trying to prevent having to do that again here. We were told this facility could wean her oxygen use to a level that she could come home, less than 10 liters when she is on 30 liters a day now. Is this realistic? Is there anything else they could be doing? Mom is mostly coherent, she has delusions occasionally. They seem to correspond to a change in supplied oxygen or upon waking (as in believing her dreams are real). I don't think any of us (including Mom) to accept that hospice is all we have left.
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