My Dad is 99 years of age and has prostate cancer. We don't know how long he has, Dr says weeks or months. His health has declined rapidly in the last 10 weeks and he entered the palliative care stage last week.
We are very very lucky to have had him for 99 years but what is happening to him now is so unfair. He initially started at the beginning of June with what was thought to be a UTI, after several lots of antibiotics it was found is bladder was not draining so he now has a catheter. He has now almost lost the ability to walk and his short term memory is almost completely gone. His hearing has been terrible for a while, it is almost non-existent. He was admitted to hospital for one night in July with low sodium, whilst in A&E he tested positive for Covid! He was allowed home after one night and we still don't know what his sodium levels are now.
He lives with my 87 year old mother and we have had to have carers day and night which they are self-funding. He has been having disturbed nights for a while, but they have got a lot worse in the last week. We have the "just in case" medicines at home and twice in the last week the carers have had to call out the District Nurse to sedate him.
He has been prescribed Haloperidol, Oramorph and Mirtazapine. He has been taking Haloperidol and Oramorph for only a few days and his aggitation has got worse. He shouts all through the night, is rude to the carers, if he had more strength I think he would be violent. He is seeing things, last night he said he could see me holding a clock. He has been crying from time to time, has threatened to take an overdose or throw himself off the balcony or in the river. He is swearing. He was such a mild-mannered man who would never have dreamnt of swearing or shouting. Sometimes he thinks it is the middle of the night, when it is the middle of the afternoon. He sits in the chair and counts for no reason, he tries to stand (he can't). He says we are hiding things from him, plotting. He will be sat in his chair but thinks he is in bed. Last night he was sedated at 4 am and slept through to 1 pm. He was then upset when he woke up and couldn't understand why he was still in bed.
We really don't know what to do now. The hospice nurse says to stick with the new medications over the weekend in the hope that he improves. There is no place for him in the hospice, so our only option other than to have him at home is a nursing home. We really don't want to do this. I have asked the hospice nurse how long should be allowed between him becoming agitated at bedtime and calling the district nurse, as he is obviously going through mental torture and this is not the palliative care I would have expected. She has said 1.5 hours and then to ring District Nurse.
Could the Haloperidol or Oramorph be making things worse - is this a thing? It seems a coincidence that he has become worse this week, or this that just natural progression?
It is so sad to see a proud man born in 1922 end up like this, confused, angry, depressed and suffering.
