NC as such a specific set of circumstances it is outing.
My 77 year old father was rushed into hospital on Thursday night, having fallen backwards from half way up the stairs. The hospital said he was extremely lucky to survive this, but he is very badly injured. He has a severe head injury with a bleed on the brain, broken bones in face, broken eye socket, broken cheek bone and three broken bones in his spinal column. He is being kept flat in a neck brace as they do not yet know what the damage is to his neck ligaments. He's had several CT scans and an MRI yesterday which we are awaiting the results of. He cannot swallow due to the damage to his face, and because of the injuries need a specialist to put a feeding tube in. He is conscious and able to speak, but very confused.
Prior to his fall, things had gotten to a point of crisis since the beginning of the year when he had an Adrenal Crisis and was in hospital for a night. He has had at least eight falls in the last 6/8 weeks, spending most of the day in bed and barely eating anything. The bloods he has had done in hospital have shown that he has very low salt levels and low potassium. He has epilepsy caused by two brain tumours in his forties, low thyroid and adrenal insufficiency. His mobility in the last month has virtually disappeared and he would not walk anywhere unless my mother literally drove him to the door of wherever they were going. He has osteopeonia and osteoporosis which he had refused any treatment or investigation for. He has a huge fear of hospitals (due to the brain surgery) and had refused to get his eyes tested for years (due to his brain tumour being discovered during an eye test.) Last year he was referred to the falls clinic and he discharged himself after he was asked to sign a consent form to share his details with other NHS/public sector agencies.
Because of the head injuries (which have damaged the sight of where he had his brain surgery) and his poor overall health the doctors are weighing up whether they can safely operate on his back. His cognition seemed impaired before the accident. He was not forgetful but also not right with huge gaps in his memory and reasoning. Since the accident he has been very confused with some points of lucidity.
My mother was diagnosed with CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukaemia) three years ago and is now about to start treatment. She is very active, still drives and has more or less become my Dad’s carer. She looks after my child and my brother's child for a day each per week. Mum had gone to the GP last week to discuss her worries about my Dad, as she doesn’t think she will be able to cope with my Dad whilst she is having treatment. This was before the accident we are now in a completely different scenario now. My Mum is in shock as she witnessed the fall.
I guess I'm asking for advice as to what practically I need to consider with my brother and what we can expect. At the very least they are going to have to live somewhere else as they live in a two storey house, but what else should we be considering.
I work 28 hours from home over four days, and will ask if I can condense this over three days so I have two days where I can help my Mum and also to take the burden of looking after my daughter off her, at least in the short term (although I think realistically this may have to stop entirely.)