Leaky Legs

[lollyc]

Hi, all. Further update: my aunt has been in the care home for two weeks. I’ve been able to visit her twice because visitor booking slots are like gold dust, apparently. She seems to have settled reasonably well, in that she is not overly agitated. Very hard to find out what exactly is going on as everyone is far too busy to tell me anything. This is even worse than the hospital.
Her legs have not stopped leaking , despite an increase in medication. They are now heavily bandaged at all times. She can’t get socks or slippers on at all. Her poor toes look dreadful. She seems to be in discomfort although the care staff are saying brightly, “Oh, she’s fine!”. She also has a massive bruise on her forehead, I’m assuming indicative of a collision with a wardrobe door or bathroom cabinet. Not surprising in a room with which she’s unfamiliar. Not blaming the care home at all, but disappointed that no one thought to mention it.
All the visitor spots before Christmas have now been taken up so I can’t see her until 28 Dec. It’s not clear if she will be bothered about this, as on the previous visits, she’s seemed happy to see me, but clearly doesn’t know who I am and promptly goes to sleep.
Today was their Christmas party, apparently with entertainment provided, but they couldn’t persuade her to join in. The floor manager somewhat reluctantly admitted that she’d refused to leave her room for days.
I haven’t yet been contacted by a Community Social Worker as promised, so have no idea what’s going to happen at the end of the month when the COVID funding runs out and the assessment has to be done.
My initial thoughts were that a home was now where she needed to be. Now I’m changing my mind. This is the most expensive care home in the borough and it’s clear that if she stays, she will be paying for care and facilities she can no longer make use of. My feeling right now is that I want to take her home with an increased care package which hopefully will meet her needs. But because nobody will be upfront and honest with me, it’s hard to work out what those needs are. I do not want to be ambushed on Jan2 with other peoples decisions.
Sorry to rant on! It’s that time of year, I think. We’ve all had enough.

I am currently dealing with swollen / leaky legs, and had a similar slippers problem. I found these:

Zedzzz Mens Josh Memory Foam Touch Fastening Extra Wide Fit Slippers With Dual Fitting (E/5E Width) | The Shoe Shack

Product No: 15937 | Style: Touch Fastening Slippers, Wide Fit Slippers | Colour: Black | 30 Day FREE returns and exchanges | 10% off on £40 spend (Code: 10OFF40)

www.theshoeshack.co.uk

which have proved to be ideal, so don't know if it's of any help.
I also got some extra wide fitting loose top socks - although Mum only has tubigrip support bandages on her legs, not proper bandaging.

Mum spent 2 weeks in respite a few months ago and came back with massively swollen legs, and a leak which required 4 months of DN visits, with me re-dressing in between times. When at home, Mum's legs are always up in a recliner chair. What I hadn't appreciated was that the care home don't have those chairs, so her feet were constantly down. I suspect that your aunt's care home aren't able to keep her legs up, so it's going to be an uphill battle to get the swelling down.

This is the third time I've had to deal with this leg problem, and it has always taken a lot of re-dressing, bandaging, raising legs etc., (I have some veterinary nursing skills - which are apparently transferrable!) which wouldn't have happened if she wasn't with me 24/7. I don't really know what the solution is.

 

[Scarlet Lady]

Thank you for the advice and suggestion, @lollyc . I should explain that J refuses to have her legs raised (even if the home was able to do it, which I suspect it isn’t.)
I tried this at home before the legs started leaking and she couldn’t tolerate it for more than a minute or so. I don’t know if it was too uncomfortable. The hospital had no more luck than I did.
Despite the hospital’s assertion that increased diuretics should alleviate the issue, that’s clearly not happening so presumably neither is any improvement in her heart rate. There is maybe little that can be done, but I am fed up with absolute silence from the medics (or what’s worse, the false brightness of ‘Oh, she’s fine! We have no immediate concerns.’ ) Anyone with half a brain cell can see she’s far from fine. All I’m looking for is a bit of candour and honesty. I can take it!

 

[lollyc]

Thank you for the advice and suggestion, @lollyc . I should explain that J refuses to have her legs raised (even if the home was able to do it, which I suspect it isn’t.)
I tried this at home before the legs started leaking and she couldn’t tolerate it for more than a minute or so. I don’t know if it was too uncomfortable. The hospital had no more luck than I did.
Despite the hospital’s assertion that increased diuretics should alleviate the issue, that’s clearly not happening so presumably neither is any improvement in her heart rate. There is maybe little that can be done, but I am fed up with absolute silence from the medics (or what’s worse, the false brightness of ‘Oh, she’s fine! We have no immediate concerns.’ ) Anyone with half a brain cell can see she’s far from fine. All I’m looking for is a bit of candour and honesty. I can take it!

I'm afraid that very few medics seem to be able to discuss the elephant in the room - at least in my experience. Unless you are really blunt (and even then, not always) they stick to the "fine", "looking well", despite all evidence to the contrary.
Mum is on a, hopefully temporary, course of diurectics, but we now have to have a blood test in a few weeks, to check kidneys etc., so they aren't exactly harmless - and Mum is on a low dose. I have been very pro-active in managing this, and it's still a struggle to make any impact. I can't see how your aunt's will improve if they are relying only on medication.

 

[Violet Jane]

Interestingly, my elderly friends' legs have been better whilst she has been staying in a care home temporarily. At home she was visited by district nurses, in theory three times a week, and her bandages would become soaked and her legs would smell between visits. I assume that the OP's mother has heart failure. I don't think that there are any easy answers to the oedema and ulceration associated with this. Diuretics may help but, as has been said above, too high a dose can cause kidney damage. My friend has been on and off them and they don't seem to have made much difference. Apart from whilst she has been in the care home the only time that her legs were ever less swollen was when she was discharged from hospital. I don't know what the hospital did but she would leave hospital with her legs half the size but within a short period of time they would increase in size again.

 

[Scarlet Lady]

Further update and advice, if possible: the care home informed me on 23rd that they had 3 positive COVID cases so they are in lockdown till 5January. I had a Skype call booked for Boxing Day, but the home didn’t appear online so that didn’t happen. Today, I got a call saying that J’s eyes were swollen and also leaking water. They called out a emergency practitioner who said that because J had already had the Furosomide drastically increased to combat the leaky legs ( which doesn’t seem to have been too successful) , they were unwilling to do anything else.

The home weren’t totally happy with this, so have rung 111 and are awaiting a call back with advice. I presume they have to be careful with further diuretic treatments because of the risk of further kidney damage. I’m wondering if this has in fact already happened and her kidneys may be failing. We already know her heart isn’t doing well.

I guess I shouldn’t speculate as I have no medical training, but has anyone else come up against this issue?

 

[Scarlet Lady]

I’m sad to say that Leaky Legs (or eyes, for that matter) are no longer a problem. My aunt passed away on 6th Jan. It appears that she was a victim of congestive heart failure, although this will have to be confirmed by the Coroner. I’m glad she’s now at peace and suffering no longer. Thank you, everyone who’s commented and supported me in this journey through dementia and best wishes to everyone still going through it.

 

[Bunpoots]

My condolences @Scarlet Lady but, as you say, your aunt is at peace now. Look after yourself now.

 

[Sarasa]

Sorry to hear that @Scarlet Lady . You did your utmost to ensure she got the help she needed, so I hope you are feeling OK.

 

[Violet Jane]

Condolences on the loss of your aunt, Scarlet Lady. You can take comfort from the knowledge that you did everything you could to get your aunt the care and treatment she needed.

 

[canary]

I am so sorry to hear your news.
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