Heart failure

[Snowsquonk]

Mum is 88 and until a month ago, lived totally independently. She did everything for herself including shopping, cleaning and her biggest love, gardening. Most of her garden is to the side of her house so she also gets a lot of social contact chatting to passers by.

A month ago we thought she had a chest infection but the reality was atrial fibrillation, clots in her lung and heart and pneumonia. She is now "medically fit for discharge" and at her request we have found a bed in a care home on what is supposed to be a temporary basis.

I had a long conversation with the home yesterday and I think I had a light bulb moment that its possible, or likely, that she wont make much more of a recovery. The drs said she's got heart failure and the function of the heart will not improve. Shes able to get up and walk, with help,but is very tired. Yesterday she had her first shower and hair wash for a month which apparently felt wonderful but after lunch she needed to sleep again and the home discribed her as very sleepy.

It hit me last night, once I started googling heart failure, that life is not going to go back to "normal".

Has anyone got or had a relative with heart failure? I would like to know what to expect.

Thanks

My dad was the same about 18 months ago after a heart attack and pneumonia. He came home and was determined to be independent as possible but did get very tired. Complicated by mum having dementia and not understanding that dad shouldn't be doing things like cleaning out the pond! That one nearly gave me a heart attack when I turned up to find him trying.
He got progressively weaker over the next 18 months, not helped by doing too much and repeated infections and he died in January. But he was a bit older - just shy of 95 when he died and he had a lot of other things going on as well. His final admission was for a urine infection that spread to his heart plus covid. But if he had rested more he would have been bored and frustrated.

Thank you. I am sorry for your loss.

Is a pacemaker or ICD an option? Possibly not due to her age. My mum went into heart failure about 10 years ago after an infection, when she was 70. She was very weak for about a year but medication and an ICD device gave her most of her quality of life back.

I've been diagnosed with heart failure and AF and am on medication at the age of 70. I did have a clot in my heart but it dissolved within a month or so. Really it doesn't affect my normal life day to day. The meds are very good these days. And heart failure isn't as scary as it sounds. It's just that the heart isn't pumping as strongly as it should. I'm hoping for many more years of active retirement ahead. It sounds as though your dm is a few years older than me though.