My mum has finished the course of antibiotics she was put on last week. On Sunday she was still finishing the course and I noticed that her forehead, on a hot sunny day, was as cold as ice and very clammy. She still had the rattly chest and had problems coughing anything out. I asked if she could have what they call 'homely remedies', i.e things that do not need prescription, which they keep a small stock of. I was thinking of a cough linctus or expectorant. Just something to loosen the phlegm and make it easier to spit out.
They didn't have any available but checked my mum's T, P and BP and said they were normal, surprisingly. They wanted to consult a doctor and said they would call one on Monday , but on Tuesday they told me that the doctor had declined to visit and simply advised sitting my mum up more. On Tuesday her forehead was perfectly normal-feeling, not that horrible clamminess, but she still can't seem to shift the phlegm. Once again all my mum's 'vital signs' were normal.
In the evening a carer came in and started fixing a notice to the wall of my mum's bedroom. I asked what he was doing. " Oh" he replied " It's a note for the other carers to remember to add Maxijul to your mum's food and drink" . I had never heard of Maxijul and although I am happy that someone has taken note of my mum's dietary needs, I couldn't think who that would have been, out of the blue.
Apparently a dietician came to visit my mum on Tuesday, without anyone letting me know. (I wouldn't have stopped her, of course, but I did think that it would have been useful to have been contacted first. I originally instigated a visit by a dietician following on from my mum's transfer to this home, and she was , I thought, very on the ball and made some good suggestions. Then the contact petered out, and it seems she, or another colleague from that team does continue to visit but without contacting the family).
Maxijul is a sort of powdery/granular type additive a bit like sherbet powder or fine sugar and it tasted a bit sweet.
Anyway, a locum doctor was called out on Tuesday night but declined to prescribe anything. I am not hammering on the door for antibiotics. I think they can be quite 'depleting' in their own way, but I can't see why they can't prescribe or permit a simple cough linctus.
Yesterday the home rang me to say that another doctor was visiting someone else in the home and would see my mother too. She was at lunch at the time when he came and when asked by the doctor how she was, she said " I'm absolutely fine". Do you have any problems with your chest? " None at all" she said very indignantly. He declined to prescribe anything. The manager said my mother made her look like a fool and she had to tell the doctor to disregard my mother's own verdict.
Then she said she had referred my mother to a speech and language therapist. What for? I asked, somewhat incredulous. Do they have anything to do with chest problems? I didn't think so. They are going to get the speech and language therapist to come and visit my mother at lunchtime to see how she eats her food. Is she aspirating food, which might be causing the phlegminess/chestiness? Apparently the speech and language therapist may be able to detect this. Anyone know if it is normal to involve speech and language therapists for this purpose? Seems a bit odd to me.
They didn't have any available but checked my mum's T, P and BP and said they were normal, surprisingly. They wanted to consult a doctor and said they would call one on Monday , but on Tuesday they told me that the doctor had declined to visit and simply advised sitting my mum up more. On Tuesday her forehead was perfectly normal-feeling, not that horrible clamminess, but she still can't seem to shift the phlegm. Once again all my mum's 'vital signs' were normal.
In the evening a carer came in and started fixing a notice to the wall of my mum's bedroom. I asked what he was doing. " Oh" he replied " It's a note for the other carers to remember to add Maxijul to your mum's food and drink" . I had never heard of Maxijul and although I am happy that someone has taken note of my mum's dietary needs, I couldn't think who that would have been, out of the blue.
Apparently a dietician came to visit my mum on Tuesday, without anyone letting me know. (I wouldn't have stopped her, of course, but I did think that it would have been useful to have been contacted first. I originally instigated a visit by a dietician following on from my mum's transfer to this home, and she was , I thought, very on the ball and made some good suggestions. Then the contact petered out, and it seems she, or another colleague from that team does continue to visit but without contacting the family).
Maxijul is a sort of powdery/granular type additive a bit like sherbet powder or fine sugar and it tasted a bit sweet.
Anyway, a locum doctor was called out on Tuesday night but declined to prescribe anything. I am not hammering on the door for antibiotics. I think they can be quite 'depleting' in their own way, but I can't see why they can't prescribe or permit a simple cough linctus.
Yesterday the home rang me to say that another doctor was visiting someone else in the home and would see my mother too. She was at lunch at the time when he came and when asked by the doctor how she was, she said " I'm absolutely fine". Do you have any problems with your chest? " None at all" she said very indignantly. He declined to prescribe anything. The manager said my mother made her look like a fool and she had to tell the doctor to disregard my mother's own verdict.
Then she said she had referred my mother to a speech and language therapist. What for? I asked, somewhat incredulous. Do they have anything to do with chest problems? I didn't think so. They are going to get the speech and language therapist to come and visit my mother at lunchtime to see how she eats her food. Is she aspirating food, which might be causing the phlegminess/chestiness? Apparently the speech and language therapist may be able to detect this. Anyone know if it is normal to involve speech and language therapists for this purpose? Seems a bit odd to me.