Mum has congestive heart failure

[val4]

I brought my 77 year old mum into a&e yesterday , as she had swelling in her legs, thighs, abdomen and breathlessness. I have just been told today that she has right sided heart failure and am meeting cardiac team tomorrow. She had valve replaced last year and has never really been strong since even though she lives alone. Has anyone any experience of dealing with this illness? I am an only child so it's all down to me...dad died 3 years ago. Thanks

I have no experience of congestive heart failure but didn't want to read and run.

Buy a cheap exercise book and work out some headers for each page for yourself. Date, time, ward no, who you spoke to, department and title of the person you spoke to, subject under discussion, etc.

Also, every time you have a meeting, get your phone/ipad out and record it, especially if they pull up results on a screen or bring out the model to explain something. That way you can refer back to it afterwards. If you think this is a bother, try to bring someone with you to just operate it so you can concentrate on the meeting itself.

Other threads near this one have instructions about finding out about care packages, being quite sure of your own boundaries, phrases that will get attention etc. I think lots of people are adamant that you need to be the squeaky wheel as that's the one that gets greased.

Sorry to hear that
Of course every case is different
They might put her on meds or it might be case where a pacemaker would work

Has she been admitted for observation?

Yes, her legs and abdomen are still very swollen so she is on iv diuretic....and her fluid input output is being monitored. She is having catherized cardiac test next week to see extent of damage. Today doc told me she has right side cardiac failure but also whole heart is under pressure as she has underlying lung disease and previous heart surgery.

Sounds like a case of wait and see, they’ll look at those things and decide meds I guess
I know it’s really hard