[Chirley]

Hi Birgitta, yes, Mum has pulmonary edema from the blood transfusion they gave her in ED and, no, that hospital wasn't treating it.

I've had Mum transferred to a better facility and the consultant immediately put her in CCU and placed her on CPAP. They are already starting to actively treat her fluid overload and the doctor has already phoned us this morning and told us about his plans and her condition. She's only been there twelve hours and we know more than we knew in 5 days at the local hospital.

Turns out her admission Hb was 50 and her eGFR was 3 her creatinine was 720. She was only a little short of breath on admission, consistent with the anaemia but then they gave her 2 units of blood in 6 hours and now she is in respiratory failure. This new consultant says that if we can get Mum over this acute respiratory problem, that with diet, fluid restriction and medical support, it's possible that Mum might not only live but live without dialysis.

This just makes what the previous hospital did to her even more incompetent.

Yesterday I had to threaten to complain to the Minister for Health before they agreed to transfer her to this new hospital. The doctor (first time I had ever spoken to one in 5 days) told me that they didn't want to treat her kidney problem because they only had a small number of beds set aside for renal patients and they were already full and that's why she was being treated as a general medical patient. I wanted to scream and hit someone but I kept my cool and told her that we were not agreeing to withdrawing treatment until some treatment in some shape or form had been tried and found to be ineffective. How can you agree to withdraw treatment when they haven't given her any?

Dads a bit more positive today, just knowing that Mums receiving help to breathe and isn't being left to battle for every breath. Now at least she might get some sleep and be able to regain a little strength. If she doesn't make it at least we know that she is more comfortable now.

I don't know if I should go to see Mum today because I don't want to disturb her or make her try to talk but on the other hand, I don't want her to think that she's alone. She is completely mentally alert and aware now, more than when she went to hospital. Ironic isn't it?

The builders are coming this morning to quote for the new bathroom so I had better go.

Regards

Chirley