Mum Has To Stay In Bed

Mum Has To Stay In Bed

Since November, Mum's legs have been swelling up when she has been sitting in the chair, and subsiding when she has been back in bed, although gradually, over the past few months, the problem has been getting worse.

Suddenly, on Wednesday, 19 February, Mum's arms and torso were also very swollen, which was extremely worrying. The ladies were reluctant to hoist Mum out of bed in case the sling put too much pressure on her skin, and ruptured it. On Thursday morning, I rang the surgery, and asked if it would be possible to get a home visit for Mum; we were coping well with the oedema in Mum's legs, but this was something new. 

Unfortunately, the Doctor wasn't there, but the receptionist, who also knows Mum well, promised to put in a request for a home visit after surgery finished on Friday, and we were happy to go with that.

In the meantime, it became a whole new way of working, trying to sort things out for Mum whilst she is lying in bed. The main worry is that when we wash her hands and brush her teeth, water will be spilled and cause a whole raft of problems if we need to change the bedding.

We came up with the idea of using several inco (incontinence) sheets, draped over Mum and the sheets, with one also around her neck, a la a barber's shop assistant ministering to a customer. 

These sheets are very strong and plastic backed, and worked well; we managed to do all the things we normally do when Mum is sitting in the chair.

This new swelling is very visible - the area around Mum's back is rock hard, her arms are swollen, and so are her thighs.

We raised the bed up both at the head and feet, and hoped that would help.

On Friday afternoon, the Doctor came to see Mum; she said the best thing for the moment was for Mum to stay in bed, and keep the bed raised - as we are doing already. Because of Mum's great age, she was reluctant to prescribe diuretics, but if Mum becomes breathless, to phone the surgery, and she will prescribe a low dose for Mum.

The trouble is, I think we know that if the water retention becomes too great, it can effectively drown you, and we really want to try to alleviate the problem as soon as we can - if we can!

We also realised that if we put both the head and leg sections of the bed in the "up" position, this means the fluid is certainly draining downwards, but it will all be going into Mum's lower torso area - her tummy and thighs - so it was decided to concentrate on raising her head up to the greatest degree that was still comfortable for Mum, and hope that it will have a satisfactory effect. 

After 24 hours, on Saturday, it looked as though her arms were less swollen, and although our main hope is that the oedema will improve enough for her to be in the chair again for some time during the day, thus far we have managed well with washing Mum's hands, brushing her teeth and feeding her in bed.  

We can still watch t.v. from the bed, and I have been showing Mum various pages of the big photo album I have put together for her, with all the pictures, photos and birthday cards she had for her birthday. Having the cards in an album is a much better idea than just keeping them loose - I've mounted one card to a page, and Mum can still open each card and read the messages inside.

It's taken me quite a while to do, as I wanted to make sure it was as good as I could make it! and Mum certainly seems to enjoy going through it. What a wonderful proof she has of so many people - not just us, her family, but folks from all over the world, are thinking of her and wishing her well.