Hi there,
My grandad had a stroke two years ago and swallowing has always been the main issue.
In the last few months, the fact that he has vascular dementia has been raised and though he had repeat chest infections last year, this year he had no hospital admissions for the chest until the beginning of October.
He was admitted with aspiration pneumonia in October and since then he has been admitted repeatedly for the last two months. He has been one week in hospital, one week out and then back again. This cycle has continued.
When he doesn't have the infections, his cognitive abilities are good. He is very responsive, he communicates (despite the fact that his speech was affected by the stroke), he laughs, he watches tv, he has a nice quality of life at home with his family.
So my main question is about PEG feeding. In the past we were adamant we didn't want a PEG but at this stage, his swallowing is becoming so poor that it seems the only option. Though i fear the hospital may deny him this.
Questions:
- Should we push for a PEG?
- And how do we convince the hospital to do this? As i feel they may refuse it based on his comorbidities.
Many thanks for your help.
My grandad had a stroke two years ago and swallowing has always been the main issue.
In the last few months, the fact that he has vascular dementia has been raised and though he had repeat chest infections last year, this year he had no hospital admissions for the chest until the beginning of October.
He was admitted with aspiration pneumonia in October and since then he has been admitted repeatedly for the last two months. He has been one week in hospital, one week out and then back again. This cycle has continued.
When he doesn't have the infections, his cognitive abilities are good. He is very responsive, he communicates (despite the fact that his speech was affected by the stroke), he laughs, he watches tv, he has a nice quality of life at home with his family.
So my main question is about PEG feeding. In the past we were adamant we didn't want a PEG but at this stage, his swallowing is becoming so poor that it seems the only option. Though i fear the hospital may deny him this.
Questions:
- Should we push for a PEG?
- And how do we convince the hospital to do this? As i feel they may refuse it based on his comorbidities.
Many thanks for your help.