David Craig, on March 30th, 2017I imagine most readers never believed Britain’s “Independence Day” would ever happen given the fact that the whole Establishment, the political classes and almost all the mainstream media were united to keep Britain as a cash-cow German colony ruled by a bunch of fourth-rate, Fourth Reich Nazis in Berlin through their posturing glove puppets in Brussels.
But enough garbage has been spoken and written about Britain leaving the deadly asphyxiating clutches of the wasteful, corrupt, undemocratic EUSSR – the world’s newest totalitarian state.
So, instead I’ll use today’s blog for a few ‘hospital stories’ in case any of these might be useful to any readers or their families:
A bit of a moral dilemma
A couple of weeks ago my 90-year-old mother suffered a massive stroke that left her hospitalised and unable to speak or walk properly. Since then, my mother has been refusing food. At first she was ‘force fed’ through a tube and she still gets regular saline drips to keep her hydrated. But my sister and I are fairly convinced that my mother is trying to die because she doesn’t want to go on living as a helpless cripple unable to communicate or look after herself.
Prior to her stroke, my mother had talked about wanting to die if she became a helpless cripple. And every time anyone from the family visits her in hospital she just glares at them in fury at her condition.
So, we have a small moral dilemma – my mother wants to die, but we’re doing what we can to keep her alive. Oh dear!
Aspirin, not statins, you idiots!
For years my mother’s doctor has been prescribing statins to keep her levels of cholesterol under control. But hold on a minute. My mother is already 90 and is extremely thin. So what are the chances of her having a heart attack due to the build-up of fat in her coronary arteries? Pretty low, I’d say. However, what are her (or were) her chances of having a stroke? Rather high as the risk of a stroke increases with age.
For several years, I’ve been telling my mother to stop taking statins. But her doctor disagreed. Perhaps my mother’s doctor should have thought that, with someone of my mother’s age, replacing statins with a blood-thinner like Aspirin or even Warfarin would have been a bit of common sense?
Beware a hospital with lots of fresh flowers
The other day when visiting the hospital, I noticed two ladies with a trolley refreshing the flower displays along one of the corridors. I imagine they were local volunteers helping out at the hospital. Trying to be pleasant, I complimented them on the hospital flower displays and asked if the flowers came from hospital visitors as patients are no longer allowed to have flowers by their bedside.
“Oh no,” one of the good ladies said cheerily, “the flowers come from the crematorium. Once they’ve burnt the bodies, they send the flowers back to us and we arrange them along the corridors”.
The lesson, I take from this is: beware any hospital with a lot of fresh flowers along the corridors as that’s a sign the hospital is keeping the local crematorium furnaces well supplied with bodies to burn and fresh flowers to be returned to the hospital.
Pride kills
Like a lot of people of her generation, my mother took pride in her independence and kept denying to herself that she was ageing and becoming increasingly frail. Although we provided her with an emergency alarm system connected to a call centre and an alarm activator she could wear round her neck, she has always refused to wear the activator. Instead she kept it in a drawer. After all, only old people need alarms and my mother never saw herself as ‘old’.
So, when she did have her stroke, she was unable to press the alarm and remained untreated for around 12 hours during which she sustained massive brain damage. This would not have occurred had she pressed the alarm and been treated within 5 to 6 hours of having the stroke. The doctors at the hospital told me this was very common – elderly people having alarm systems but not wearing them because they considered them ‘unnecessary’.
The ‘good news’ and the ‘not so good news’
The other day I had a classic “good news, bad news” experience. The good news was that my mother could be discharged from hospital and go home. The not so good news was that she was not being discharged due to an improvement in her condition, but because there was nothing more the hospital could do for her.
Conclusion (of sorts)
My take from all this is that we should all give a little more thought to our deaths and the effect they will have on those close to us – write a will, make sure your financial affairs are in order, avoid as much inheritance tax as possible, make clear what we want in the event of a serious heart attack or stroke etc etc.
Oh, and here to cheer us all up is a half-minute video of some Muslim ladies disco-dancing in their sexist outfits. Good grief!!! (click on headline below to watch)
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2017/03/29/isnt-it-haram-for-muslim-women-to-make-such-fools-of-themselves-in-public/
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I have spent nearly 3 years dealing with my mum’s decline. It started with a fall. This caused a sub-dural haematoma (undetected for 6 weeks but operated on). Vascular dementia followed together with frequent falls, regular ambulances (once it was twice in the same night)Frequent hospital stays and eventually a dementia-suitable care home.
The health service only aims to prevent death. There is little focus on quality of life. Perhaps that is a reasonable attitude for a free health service but there isn’t a UK generally accepted approach to the wellbeing of the elderly (mainly ladies).
Frequent hospital visits become the norm. These are stressfull but maintain existence at the expense of quality of life. Care homes are expensive if you have to pay and generally staffed with well meaning imported nurses and assistants, whose english often means they cannot understand english cultural norms. They often speak to each other in foreign languages which isolates the residents or heavily accented english which can be just as bad.
Our care of the elderley is expensive and sometimes cruel in prolonging life well beyond a natural lifespan. In my experience quality of life comes too far down the list of priorities.
Sorry to read of your Mother’s illness, Mr. C. Difficult times for you both … as I am closer to 90 than 30 this makes salutary reading.
Thanks Caractacus but I’m also closer to 90 than 30.
Sir,
I was age 29 years when all out the blue My Mother – then aged 55 years – had a severe headache, it got bad as the day went on so we phoned our local GP. He was kind enough to come home, did a few checks and phoned for an Ambulannce. He waited until such arrived and explained as much as possible to thye Paramedic crew. Arrived at the Hospital, Mum was checked again and they decided to keep her in. After a day or two One Consultant spoke to Dad and when I arrived at the Hospital , Dad asked me to speak to the Doctor,. Dad was aged 65. I spoke with the Doctor who explained Mum had a Tumour and they had given her intravenous drugs that would temporarily shrink the tumjour. He explained this would not be the answer to the problem and he could give further details after certain measures – MRI – had been carried out. Neuro Consultant eventually spoke to Dad and I saying how the Tumour was too dangerous to be removed. That over following 6 weeks or so Mum would seem to decline in health, loose ability to speak with us and this could result in being fatal. We realised such, and felt pleased to at least have Mum brought home so we could look after her. Consultant was correct and after a few weeks Mum had an apparent stroke cum seizure. We dialled for Ambulance , they came yet drove slowly back to the Hospital. Felt as though they were hoping Mum would pass away before we got to the Hospital. Once agin Mum was taken in as a in patient and two days later was when Mum passed away. That happened the actual day Day retired. Eventually we left the ward and went downstairs to collect a said Death certificate. We were Heartbroken – especially Dad. As we waited to be called into the office, a Doctor approached and asked if we would give permission for an Autopsy.. I was angry and said, “No , I Think that’s perhaps a bit too Dangerous. Why did you not try an operation ?? WHY. you may have been able to remove certain parts of the Tumour and give Mum a bit more time.If such failed, then you would alreaqdy know what you are asking for….So forget it”. How much are we supposed to take , how Much ???
Hospitals do not have enough to Operate in certain cases, or to Treat one too long etc. But they Do have 12 – 15 thousand Pounds Decoration Money, to get rid of before April. Otherwise they’re Budget may be reduced.