Handhold please, Husband been admitted to A&E

[Buffy81]

Hi all you lovely ladies

Never thought I would do one on these post.

The past couple of months my DH has been getting headaches and a couple of weeks ago he had a bit of a funny turn at work where his vision went. He went to the GP and they advised that he booked an Optitions appointment.

He went on Sunday and saw that he had some burst caperillies so they said that it could be down to stress from his new role as he is a team lead in IT, high blood pressure or diabetes as both run in his family. They said that they will refer him for a blood test at our local hospital.

He had a phone call from them this morning asking him to come into the eye clinic this afternoon and I had to take him as they might have to dilatate his eyes

He got seen after waiting ages were they did blood pressure, blood tests, put the dye in his eyes and then did a scan. They said that his blood pressure was high so repeated the blood pressure and then sent him to A&E where they gave him some medication. They have now admitted him, hopefully just over night, so that they can do a CT scan and X-ray and possibly put him on a drip.

He said his blood pressure was over 200! Apart from the recent headaches he has had no other signs that it was high. I have just had to take some stuff up for him like phone charger clean pants and socks for the morning and take our two DS one age 9 and 4as well as had no one to look after them for the 30mins. Our eldest suffers with anxiety so this has not helped him as i know that he is going to be worrying about it.

Am sat downstairs trying to worry about it myself as I know that if I show signs of worry our DS's will also pick up on it. I have put them both to bed as it was past their bedtime by time we got back

He would be remarkably stupid to do that.

Blood pressure that high could kill him / give him permanent issues if not brought under control.

He WILL get a bed eventually and he will get the help he needs.

Best case scenario is if he leaves now, he could end up having to go through the whole process a second time.

I know as he wouldn't be able to call the gp in the morning as they wont have any information. I have just messaged him to say that I am tempted to call A&E myself to fi out what it going and when he will get a bed

I have just messaged him to say that I am tempted to call A&E myself to fi out what it going and when he will get a bed

What will this achieve? Likely A&E doesn’t know. The problem will be the wards are backlogged, likely with oldies who don’t require further medical management but can’t be discharged due to lack of required care provision in the home/community setting. Maybe if YOU solve this problem, the flow will be as it should and your DH will get a bed faster. Maybe you can give your ideas on how this will be achieved to A&E when you call them about his bed.

It’s unpleasant to be stuck waiting in A&E but it is what it is. People just need to tough it out to get the necessary tests and treatment.

Another no here for self discharge - he needs to get this sorted OP or go through it again
I wanted to self DC after 7 hours waiting at A and E - I could've lost my sight in one eye if I had done so - it was lasered after 10 hours

@HoppingPavlova that comment dosent help me or him. I work for the NHS I know how broken the sytsem. My trust has been on black bed watch every day for at least 2 months .

Maybe YOU should sort all the problems out then as I know I cant.
This is a whole other thread and not one that needs to start on this one

Call it me being tired, emotional and frustrated knowing that I cant do anything but feel like I need to try and do something.

😥

He has managed to get a bed in A&E am guessing so have told him to try and get some sleep, he did have his blood pressure done again and its still high which is not surprising with how long its taken

That's good news.

Try and get some sleep yourself now as he sounds like he will need your support in the morning.

There's very little you can do tonight at this point and he needs to just get on with things. You being 'available' from now on, won't help that.

He at least has everything he needs with him.

Hope you get some sleep. Remember what they say about putting your own oxygen mask on first so you can look after others. So look after yourself. You'll hear the phone if it pings, so try to sleep.

This - try and get some rest lovely xx

Morning all you lovely ladies

DH has just messaged to say that he managed to get some sleep last night/early hrs when he wasn't being woken ever hr for BP being taken. Its come down now but still high at 164 which was his last reading

Thank goodness they managed to get him a bed. I hope you managed to get some sleep.

I got about 4hrs, think I fell asleep around 1:30 and then the alarm goes of at 530.

All I can say is thank good for Costa being at work and coffee in the office a gonna need it.
Have said to him that I will pick him up if he gets discharged today and wil just leave work early as I know it wont be a problem as I will let the guys that I work with know the situation as I would have to finish slightly earlier anyway to pick the DS's up from afterschool club

He really is in the best place op.
It sounds like he is being monitored and given medication accordingly. I’d go to work, you can’t do anything for him while he’s in hospital. Depending on the outcome you may need to take some time off when he’s discharged so I’d take any time off, if needed, then.
I’ve had hypertension for a long time, I presented like your DH: headaches, dizziness, visual disturbances. Went to my gp who did a BP test, It was 240/120. I was sent to hospital for monitoring, brain scan and a heart tracing. They came back normal. I’m on medication for life, two tablets in the morning and a statin at night. It’s under control now.

Just wanted to say I’m thinking of you here and hope all turns out well. What a terrible stressful night for you all.

I know it sounds really high op but my mil has blood pressure that often spikes that high and she is on medication like a pp. she manages to go about her daily life. She's also had the broken capillaries in her eye, headaches etc.

Glad he managed to get a bed and some sleep. And you too. Hopefully they'll get things under control.

@JubileeJumps I managed to get about 4hrs in the end fell asleep around 1:30 and then may alarm gose off at 530.
I have come to work and my colleague said why did I come in like i knew she would. Said I have to keep busy as if I am at home, all I will do is worry and I also have to keep the DS's in their routine as well.

I have let both of their schools know the situation as well so they they can be kept an eye on

I had melt down from both of them this morning, my youngest crying and saying that he didn't want to go back to school and then from eldest blaming the youngest for crying as it made him forget what he wanted for breakfast.

Not what I wanted to be dealing with this morning on 4hrs sleep

@DuchessPotato thank you

@platinumplus I am also glad that he was able to get a bed and some sleep as i really didn't want him to discharge himself last night and have to start the process all over again

Hopefully I will get some update once they have done the ward rounds

Chuckling at the anti junior doctor asides on this thread. They can relax on strike this week, knowing that their contribution is unnecessary 🤣

What?

When I was diagnosed with high BP mine was about the same, it came down a lot with medication and I've now dropped a med and I'm still well within safe parameters.

Is your husband overweight? If so the best thing he can do is lose weight. I've lost 3 and a half stone since diagnosis.

Just wanted to add to hopefully ease you mind a little mine was 230/132 once and I did end up going to hospital where they just gave me meds to bring it down and now it's controlled (ish ) with medication.
Hopefully now that it's something you are aware of it can be brought under control

@Torchdino see yesterday 23.15

Doesn't read like a snipe towards JDs, just correctly pointing out that when the JDs are striking consultants are invariably acting down so decisions get made quicker; whereas when its a consultants strike it takes longer because when stuff needs review there are very very very few cons working who can do so. What's wrong with that? It's true, and not criticising JDs.

It might not feel like it atm but it's lucky this hbp was caught before he had a heart attack/stroke.

Undiagnosed/untreated hbp kills thousands every year.

He'll be ok now he'll be put on statins & be regularly monitored.

This should be a warning for everyone over 40 esp the overweight/ family history of heart/circulation issues & diabetes risk to buy at home bp machines & use them every 3 months. This would save so many lives.

He has had more bloods taken, and on a drip which he has about 2hrs left on so we prob wont hear anymore until about 2ish at the earliest and his last bp that was done ealrier this morning was between 160-170

🤞🤞 for you and your DH.

Sometimes, it feels like things are moving horribly slow when you are in hosp and waiting for results/information.