Anyone lost a parent from Heart Failure?

[maltesers]

My Dad is dying from Heart Failure and is 82yrs old. He is on several drugs to keep him going but his heart is only working 25%.
This last xmas season he has taken a turn for the worse, ended up in hospital at A&E, then came out 3 days later, and now cant get out of bed, except to get to the toilet.
A carer comes in 2x weekly to help him bath. My Mum is loosing her memory and rational thought so not very good at caring for him.
I go up now every day to give him lunch and tea.

He is very very breathless, on supplementary oxygen when he needs it and he is totally exhausted and weiry. His mind however is all there though at the moment.
Its heart braking to watch him suffer, and cant bear to ask this, but. . .
What are the last stages of heart failure like ?
Will he suffer badly?
Can the Doctor alleviate the suffering at the end?
I know he wants to stay at home to die. . . .

So sorry for you.

One of my elderly relatives was as you discribed and I'm sure he passed away in his sleep. He certainly died at home.

Sorry I can't be of more use.

I am so very sorry. This happened to my Dad in 2006; he was 80 and also became breathless, weak and a little confused. He (apparently?) then caught an infection and became delirious/possibly in severe pain though hard to tell.. The GP knocked him out with morphine thankfully and he died peacefully a number of hours later at home. It wasn't great, but a lot better than what my Mum went through with cancer; of the two I would choose heart failure :-(

I'm sorry to hear you are going through this. There are a number of different avenues you could try for help and support in caring for your dad, and helping to keep him comfortable.
The British Heart Foundation fund heart failure nurses and HF palliative care nurses. If he doesn't already have one, a Community matron can help with monitoring his condition and can liase with GP/District Nurses/Palliative care team to help keep his symptoms under control and provide you all with some support. I'd get the GP to see him, and see if they could get the ball rolling with some of these things. (I'm not saying that the end is near, but it can take a bit of time to get services set up)
HTH

Sympathies from me too.

Y y get in touch with your dad's GP - end stage heart failure certainly warrants good palliative care. Specalist HF nurses are phantastic to have on board but are not available in all areas.

A tiny dose of usually liquid morphine can help to make the breathlessness less scary without being sedating.

He may be more able to eat v little often rather than have proper meals - protein will be important for him.

Has there been a needs assessment done by socialwork? Getting help in only 2x/week does not seem a lot to me.

I hope he is as comfortable as he can be and maybe even regains some strength.

Thank you so much mnetters for your words of kindness. My Parents have a private doctor (lucky enough to pay for one) and the Doc visited him yest evening . He said he now has Pleurisy (infection in chest) so was urgently admitted to hospital last night. I raised up to parents , got him organised while waiting for the paramedics ot arrive to take him in . Then i followed up to Hospital with my Mum and my 10 yrs old DS. . . .
Poor DS got to bed at 10 pm (school nite) . Have told his teachers today his routine has been tossed in turmoil etc..he was up though bright and early..bless.
I just hope my Dad gets a bit better so he can come home. . . cos i know thats where he wants to die. . .

Sorry to hear he's deteriorated, maltesers. I hope he gets looked after well and recovers to come home.

Thinking of you.

my dad died of this and went peacefully in his sleep,we all agreed we would like to be the same at the end.It will be distressing for you but there is no need for him to be in any pain,see docs and have a talk about some more specialist care.

Thankyou lilyliz