Does anyone know this course of action?

[Dotty]

My husband was in the MAU for a night, and contacted a lousy chest infection, about 8 weeks ago. Since then he has had a course of four different antibiotics.
He is much better, but he has collected a lot of fluid/mucus at the base of his throat. It causes him some considerable distress at times, and we are at our wits end as how to clear it. We were given a pump, but that only is for the inside of his mouth and the problem is lower down. He has had a steroid nose spray, which helps a little. Now they are going to try a nebuliser,and an antihistamine.
He is 85 and has forgotten how to cough,he has had vascular Alzheimers for 10 years. We are very worried as the district nurse said he had probably entered the final stages. He sleeps a lot, but is very alert at certain times of the day, he eats and drinks well, but we have to be careful he does not choke. He coughs at night,although we make him more upright in the electric bed.
Does anyone know how to clear his chest/lower throat of phlegm? Have they had the same experience?
We would really appreciate any advice
Dotty

 

[katieberesford]

Hi Dotty

Not sure whether I can help or not but my husband David, has had bronchiectasis since birth. Before his mum would let us get engaged she made me do his physio sessions, if you can stomach that my girl for the rest of your life and still love him, you can have him!

I have to do postural drainage twice a day for David. It really does help with clearing the lungs and chest of mucus. Unfortunately, it is done by controlled breathing and this is becoming more difficult as David can't remember what to do next. Your GP practice should be able to put in you contact with the local physiotherapist, they are brilliant at this sort of thing. Try asking at your GP surgery.

Let me know how you get on Dotty.

Love Katie

 

[Bets]

If you are concerned about your dad choking when he eats, it might be worth asking for a speech and language therapist's assessment of his swallowing. You shouldn't need a GP's referral for this, you can refer direct to the SLT yourself. She should be able to give advice re suitable foods, consistencies and techniques to help avoid choking.

Bets