Need a virtual hand hold , husband vomiting blood

[Justmeeeindie]

Still frazzled so sorry if this is all over the place husband has been constipated for around 10 days doing usual things laxative tons of water lots of fibre , he went to a&e at my insistence on Tuesday early hours as he was awake all night crying in pain, I’ve never seen him in as much pain and vomiting profusely
he went to a&e waited 4 hours to be basically fobbed off , they felt his stomach said it was just constipation told him to continue laxatives at home .

today he woke up around 11 in agony he vomited it was dark like coffee which in retrospect should have been warning sign anyways he tried to get back to sleep then shouted me not much later from bathroom , he was vomiting loads of bright red blood (no exaggeration there was a lot) and passing in and out of consciousness eyes rolling the lot , he passed out atleast 8 times whilst I was on phone to the ambulance , he peed himself at one point .

I was terrified I’m still shaking ambulance came pretty fast(20mins ) but he’s been waiting in ambulances at a&e for over 2 hours now .

I'm stuck at home with the kids , there off school (hand foot and mouth ) thanks to the two year old .
I don’t know what to do right now , I genuinely though he was dying , he kept saying he was and I had to calm him down telling him he will be fine all the while thinking he was actually dying .

no idea yet what’s actually wrong but I’m thinking bowel blockage (which I suspected on Tuesday hence making him go to a&e) or ulcer .

don’t know purpose of this post just need to let it out , the waiting on update is torture .

I have been told that trick to actually be examined properly at A&E is to go to an A&E outside of your region. (Look up which hospitals are joined together in the same trust, and avoid those).

Because they'll simply charge back all your tests and treatments to your local hospital, an out-of-area A&E won't hold back doing anything they need.

Hope he's feeling better

💐

@Justmeeeindie could you update us please. Hope your husband is ok🙏

Hi sorry for lack of update , he got kept in after much insistence . His blood pressure keeps dipping .

Hes been on drip and is null by mouth until they do camera (was meant to be yesterday but never happened) , he’s ok still in a lot of pain and very very hungry he’s not ate in days now he can’t wait for the endoscopy so he can finally eat . It has marked as urgent on Thursday night but still no idea when it will be done 🤯.

Hospital has been pretty terrible , staff for most part lovely but very understaffed and very busy he’s effectively been left in a private room and ignored, they keep bringing him food which he has to reject and took 8 hours and 5 buzzes to get 2 paracetamol yesterday because the nurse kept forgetting 🙈.

No more vomiting though thankfully 🤞🏻

You poor things. I can't believe they haven't even dealt with the constipation or provided adequate pain relief. It's frightening that the NHS is in such a state.

Are you able to be with him OP?

Has he managed to pass a stool yet?

I hope they can carry out the endoscopy today. It's heart breaking how the NHS is crumbling. Someone will need to push for his endoscopy, be the squeaky wheel. He will likely be feeling so unwell that he won't have the energy to do so himself. You must be exhausted yourself. The emotional strain can be overwhelming. Do you have anyone who can give you support?

It really is.

Gosh op, so sorry to hear this. Your husband is really going through the mill

Perhaps not vomiting as he’s not eaten. If it is bowel obstruction then i understand it’s an emergency… not just urgent.
Scary how bad nhs is. If you aren’t well enough to advocate for yourself and have no one to advocate for you I think you’re just forgotten about… awful.

I saw this thread a couple of nights ago and was shocked that the hospital wanted to send your husband home. I’m glad you managed to persuade them to keep him in. What a scary situation for you both. I hope the appropriate investigations are carried out very soon. Wishing you well.

Yes definitely he’s too unwell and has pretty much just gave up trying .I had to chase up nurse yesterday for the pain killers and then too find out what’s happening with endoscopy , he had been left in dark about everything no one told him why he was fasting or that he was meant to be getting endoscopy .
he got told yesterday at 4pm that if it wasn’t happening then they would let him eat as it’s been so long and he could fast again from midnight , 3 hours later they tell him he’s not allowed in case he vomits . He was devastated never seen someone so excited at prospect of a sandwich .
Just spoke to him and he’s been giving morphine so hopefully he can just sleep till camera is done .

I feel so guilty I’m not getting to be there as much as I’d like to with him and he’s had no other visitors , he’s so scared it’s his first time staying in hospital . But between sorting someone to watch kids and travelling it’s a nightmare.

He’s getting moved wards soon so I’m hoping new ones a bit better .

If you can take him something like fruit or a bar of chocolate he can keep it by him in case he is allowed to eat again and no food is available. Think I'd go with dark chocolate as its mildly laxative.

Surely they can’t leave him not eating for days?!

Thats awful!

Can you ask if he’s allowed things like lucozade or protein shakes?

If so I’d take a load in and a load of paracetamol.

I would log everything because I would make a formal complaint after this as I feel he’s been treated appallingly.

And I know it’s not the staffs fault but as I said up thread, not being seen and dealt with is counter productive.
He’s taking up a bed space (staff and resources too), when instead he could have been seen, treated and sent home.

So there’s at least 1 person in A&E that can’t be seen because your DH is taking up a bed space and it’s just a vicious cycle that people aren’t being seen and dealt with and so it’s constantly just shuffling people around and putting out fires.

The NHS is a complete shit show right now and I don’t see how this can continue.

Gosh straight from paracetamol to morphine is mad! Is it oral morphine?

We’ve got the Tories to thank for this.

Hope they get the endoscopy done soon. Continue to kick up a fuss and insist.

So he’s waiting on an endoscopy despite the fact that his oesophagus/stomach are already damaged due to vomiting (the reason he was vomiting bright red) and his blood pressure keeps dropping, and he’s severely constipated and they have given him morphine which will stop all his bowel movements completely?? No blood results yet? No xray or CT scan to asses his abdomen?

wow.

huge PALS complaint brewing here.

Not eating is absolutely fine in this situation, in case of a bowel obstruction. As long as he is getting fluids.

Hope H is well soon.
The suggestion of logging his treatment/lack of treatment is worth doing.
The state of the NHS is scary!!

But how long is ok to withhold food?

Surely there’s a maximum time where they need to push him through to get scanned etc so he can start eating again.

I don’t know specific guideline but I have been nil by mouth for up to a week personally, several times for similar reasons. They just keep you going with IV fluids.

Please make a complaint with PALS immediately, he is not bring cared for, he’s in a serious condition and is being continually overlooked. Please please advocate for him, he needs urgent treatment, they are clearly not on the case, PALS complaint will be the quickest and clearest way to communicate this.

Do whatever you can to be there more often I’ve just spent three weeks in isolation and if it wasn’t for my partner, I don’t think I would’ve survived. He needs you to speak for him.

So he hasn't eaten anything since Thursday??

And for some reason they haven't go around to doing the endoscopy??

I'm sorry - but wtaf, NHS???