Suction or not?

[ceroc46]

Morning all,

Looking for advice please.

Mum has phlegm seemingly in her throat. It sounds like she needs to have a good cough but of course can't and isn't strong enough anyway.

She's on Amoxicillin for whatever use that is.

In turn she's not really eating or drinking, everything seems to dribble out again.

She had something similar earlier in the year, and at my request the care home used suction to try and clear it. It did remove some but not all.

It was very distressing for mum and me, and I felt awful doing it, but if it gives her relief should I ask them to do it again?

Am waiting for a call back from the gp to see what he says, or ask for stronger medication.

TIA

 

[lemonjuice]

Only a personal response and obviously I feel very emotionally involved in this.

Aproximately 10 days ago my mother had another seizure, this time mid being fed. She had 'refused' (whatever that means as she no longer communicates?) the puree, so the carer persevered with the joghurt. Then she had the seizure. Obviously once the seizure was over they had to suction her to remove anything she may have aspirated.

When I visited her she was obviously in discomfort after the suctioning and seemed to be feeling raw. Well that's what I interpreted by the furrows between the brows and she did 'look' discomforted. Then a acouple of days later the phlegm in her throat was bad enough to cause real concern. She had experienced over 12 hours of 'bubbly' breathing because of the secretions and at times was turning blue with the effort to breathe.

I have no real evidence, but wonder if the suctioning actually exacerbated the phlegm she already had in her trachea? I certainly hope she doesn't have the next seizure whilst they're feeding her. I only know that I can no longer visit her when she's 'ill' and watch her suffer any more.

 

[Shedrech]

hi ceroc46
what a worry for you
I don't have any experience to share - it's good that you will be speaking to her GP, do put to them all your concerns, maybe even read your post to them (I only suggest this as I have a and habit of forgetting all the details I wanted to share with a GP and being annoyed with myself when I get home and remember exactly what I wanted to say, so I write it all down now)
maybe also make clear that you want an honest and straight forward explanation of what is going on from the GP and the staff, sometimes I feel they hold back on any potentially bad news so you don't get the complete picture, only to be kind and reassuring, but that doesn't do it for me
I hope the GP is helpful
best wishes