Sorry I haven’t been about ☹️
My Dad was taken to hospital on Thursday, 29th June last year with suspected stroke because the side of his face had dropped one side. Two weeks previous his doctor said it was Bells Palsy and gave him a course of steroids. But instead of improving, he got worse. He was losing his memory, falling asleep all the time, unsteady on his feet and when driving, hitting the kerb. It was then on that Thursday, Mum got him to make another appointment with the doctor. The doctor promptly sent him up the hospital. He had a CT scan of his brain in A&E and we were all prepared for the consultant to say he had, had a stroke. What we weren't prepared for was to be told he had a brain tumour. They did another CT scan the next day of his chest and abdomen and found a secondary mass on his lungs. Shockingly since being admitted to the hospital, his health has declined more rapidly. He could walk with assistance on that Thursday he was in A&E; but within a week, his speech was slurred, regularly slipped in and out of confusion, had gone blind in his right eye, partially blind in the left and had muscular spasms in his arms. It took a week after he was admitted that finally got to speak to his consultant and he confirmed it was secondary brain cancer, but when we asked him whether we've caught it early, he said no. It's a Grade 4 tumour.? They told us we were talking months, maybe less. We decided not to go down the radiotherapy route because it's so advanced it's probably going to cause him more pain to lengthen his life a little bit longer. And that we were just going to let nature take its course, keep him comfortable on his steroids and fill his life with as much positivity as we can. The consultant's end of life prognosis seemed to be optimistic when his health continued to decline as rapidly as before. After a very good day on Wednesday 19th July, by the Thursday his cognitive, verbal and speech had declined, was unable to swallow food or medication and spend most of the time in a comatose state. After a lot of pushing on Saturday, 22nd July after a consultation with the wards Clerical Nurse we finally got our wish and he was moved to St. Helena's Hospice on the Sunday. At this time, he was taken off all medication as it was difficult to rouse from sleep or elicit a response from his sleep. When he got into the hospice and settled in his room we told him he was in the hospice and although he could tell us verbally the look of contentment on his face spoke a thousand words. On Monday morning after a phone call from the hospice to warn us his vital signs had deteriorated considerably and with all the family in the room, my Dad passed away peacefully in his sleep. Although he only spent one night in St. Helena's, the care he received in his final 24 hours was phenomenal. He had a good life, served for Queen and Country, saw the world and brought joy to many, so deserved a dignified death which was he was given in their care. Rest in peace Dad
