Morning all
Thank you all so much for your thoughts (and especially your prayers silentmammoth )
We are still waiting for a date for Dad's MRI scan. Technically they are "booked up" for the next 2 weeks but are trying to fit my Dad in as an urgent case this week if they can. Dad is a bit up and down (to be expected) but I think he is basically on an upward trend. He started to feed himself last Friday and also walked across the ward using a zimmer frame. What makes me so furious is that certain nurses, just "assumed" he was end stages Parkinson's disease (and this is basically what the consultant was telling me a week last Friday). This means mostly loss of swallow reflex (and most other movement) because Parkinson's drugs are not working any longer. Also one of the nurses told my mum, even before he was so poorly that he was never going to walk again - and the physios hadn't even really assessed him then.
I think that was why they weren't so bothered about getting food and medication into him, because they thought he was basically terminal!
Well- he so obviously isn't at the end stages of Parkinson's (If he wasn't responding to drugs, he wouldn't be able to feed himself or walk etc) He was just poorly with a chest infection. This is what we instinctively felt (somehow bit's and pieces didn't just fit into the scenario they were painting) and why Mum and Dad's carer went in to feed him and get his medication into him the weekend before last!
As soon as he has had his scan, he can go home ( as long as he doesn't get any more chest infections) which will be so much better as Mum can monitor exactly how much fluid, medication and food he is getting into him and he will be so much happier too. I'm still on tenterhooks a bit as I don't really trust the hospital to look after him properly now, although as he has improved they are taking his care a bit more seriously.
The neurosurgeon has basically indicated he is willing to adjust Dad's shunt a bit, whatever the result of the brain scan but wants him to have the scan anyway to get a clearer picture of what is going on.
Mean while Dad is well enough to start teasing my Mum. Mum and his carer have the same name. Mum asked him who looked after him best, S (wife) or S (carer). He said "S (carer). Then she asked, "Well why do you say that?" and he replied "because it's the truth!" As it has been difficult to get him to say very much at all recently - even "yes" or "no", this is quite an achievement! (Though I'm not sure how much his life will be worth living if he continues with that type of comment!).
Thanks again for all your concern. Any continued prayers for Dad to get his scan quickly would be really valued!
In other (decluttering) news - I went to the dentist this morning and browsed in 3 nearby charity shops and didn't buy anything!