An exploration of the UK unpaid carer's world


TDH Health summary June 2016

Update:

Teresa died on 22 April 2017.

  1. Health summary   
  2. The prospect of exercise
  3. Exercise 
  4. The NHS


1   Mrs Teresa D Harrison Health Summary 1 July 2016


   Mrs Harrison is 80 yrs old and these factors apply:


  1. fronto-temporal dementia – confirmed October 2014 

  2. dislocated and inoperable right hip socket so no control over her right leg

  3. no independent mobility – is 100% reliant on wheelchair, can transfer by herself from wheelchair to her own familiar armchair, but with difficulty and should be supervised

  4. wheelchair considerations combined with Teresa's frailty demanded a radical solution here 

  5. cannot stand unaided, needs help with dressing & washing

  6. needs hoists etc to get into and out of a bath

  7. severe arthritis including a twisted spine

  8. an oesophageal pouch so requires minced/puréed food

  9. diverticulitis causes occasional diarrhoea (not infectious)

  10. heart attack in 1980 and has taken blood pressure regulating medication since

  11. minor stroke in 2014

  12. nerve problems in her left arm which cause a lot of pain

  13. ankles/feet joints are 'fused' so cannot point feet to put into shoes

  14. macula degeneration so cannot cope with very bright rooms (usually has curtains half-drawn)

  15. Bowen's disease at left ankle confirmed mid-July 2016 - ideally - alleviated in October 

  16. Medication list and broad medical history here.


2  The prospect of exercise
  1. The weekly programme, broadly, is one day/half-day out, next day in to rest.
  2.  
  3.  Sunday morning -church. Tuesday, or sometimes Weds – Leominster Dementia Meeting Centre [5 here], Thursday – Woodside daycare centre.

  4. Friday - church event at noon sometimes  
  5. Three days of the week knocked off the exercise schedule.  The prospect of feeling capable of anything much is 50-50 on any day of the week.  Apply that to the remaining four days and exercise boils down to 2/7. 
 

3   Exercise   here



4    The NHS
  1. The NHS can be abominable at times.  Too many times, staff are unprepared, do not have the right notes, do not listen to patients or their carers, and want to argue in front of the patient.  

  2. Endless number of voice-mails requiring help led to a Battle for Occupational therapists   here

  3. 78 year-old woman ejected from A&E at 0200 here
       



 for pasting   TDH Health summary June 2016  here

                                  Home exercises here 

                                                 My care stories here