He’s 76, and was admitted 5 weeks ago with a severe UTI and confusion, dizziness. He has been in hospital since, and in that time also went through alcoholic withdrawal, which was awful, and the hospital were amazing and stepped in with their withdrawal protocol which was Librium based I think. The UTI has been sorted but he became psychotic and was given a course of Haloperidol which sorted the psychosis but seemed to knock him into what they’re calling hypo-active delirium. He just can’t seem to wake up. He’s had an MRI which was clear but there was a bit of shrinkage on his cerebellum when he was first scanned on admission.
So here we are over a month later and his bloods are ok, he’s got mucus on his chest which they’re sucking out, and he can’t communicate or move at all. He opens his eyes and I think he knows I’m there and then goes back down again.
He’s being treated with Keppra now to try and suppress any seizures which may be taking place, but is off a drip and now has just an NG tube. The doctors are so kind but I know he would hate being like this and I also wonder at what point they call Time - and what happens then. It’s heartbreaking. Any ideas would be helpful. He doesn’t have a terminal diagnosis so the hospice aren’t interested and this seems to be going on forever.