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bluefirebirdThanks, all.
Major fail from the NHS - not only have they got to the point where Mum is frightened to call the ambulance for fear of less than stella care to follow, but I tried to ring NHS Direct for "reassurance". On the 24hr helpline they said something like 4 hours wait for non-emergency discussions and additionally there was a recorded message saying to have the patient's details to hand. After a while I hung up and eventually rang the manager of my Aunt's care-home who made the mistake of saying "ring any time" when I told her about Pete's death.
They are only a half mile from my parents and she and her husband went to visit Mum for me - although she is not medically qualified (as far as I know) she does have far more experience than Mum or I on the condition of elderly people who are under the weather and assessing as to whether an ambulance is necessary.
She thinks Dad might be being pulled down by a urinary infection - something that seems to get to elderly folks a lot from what I am beginning to understand. She's made him drink a cup of tea, found that he does indeed have a slightly raised temperature and helped make him comfortable in the armchair with his feet up. So he's gonna spend the night there. And I imagine the Doc's gonna be called out in the morning.
Mum is probably going to spend a sleepless night in bed and I'm about to collapse into my own bed at 1am some two hours after the "early" night that I'd already missed by 11, before all this kicked off.
I'm due over there tomorrow anyway - but looks like I need to arrange my own go-bag by the front door for the immediate future.
Which all still leaves me wondering what the point is...
In other news - I am beginning to get the idea that despite having spouses of their own to hug them, Pete's kids are almost as much in bits as I am.
Major fail from the NHS - not only have they got to the point where Mum is frightened to call the ambulance for fear of less than stella care to follow, but I tried to ring NHS Direct for "reassurance". On the 24hr helpline they said something like 4 hours wait for non-emergency discussions and additionally there was a recorded message saying to have the patient's details to hand. After a while I hung up and eventually rang the manager of my Aunt's care-home who made the mistake of saying "ring any time" when I told her about Pete's death.
They are only a half mile from my parents and she and her husband went to visit Mum for me - although she is not medically qualified (as far as I know) she does have far more experience than Mum or I on the condition of elderly people who are under the weather and assessing as to whether an ambulance is necessary.
She thinks Dad might be being pulled down by a urinary infection - something that seems to get to elderly folks a lot from what I am beginning to understand. She's made him drink a cup of tea, found that he does indeed have a slightly raised temperature and helped make him comfortable in the armchair with his feet up. So he's gonna spend the night there. And I imagine the Doc's gonna be called out in the morning.
Mum is probably going to spend a sleepless night in bed and I'm about to collapse into my own bed at 1am some two hours after the "early" night that I'd already missed by 11, before all this kicked off.
I'm due over there tomorrow anyway - but looks like I need to arrange my own go-bag by the front door for the immediate future.
Which all still leaves me wondering what the point is...
In other news - I am beginning to get the idea that despite having spouses of their own to hug them, Pete's kids are almost as much in bits as I am.
