Caring for Mum during lockdown

Hello and welcome amazing bunch on here we all help each other . We too have stopped receiving input from our palliative nurse and feel quite isolated .My daughter was helping me with her dad as a few weeks ago he wasnt too good believed to be having seizures .He stabilised on anti seizure meds but has gone downhill a bit since lockdown started .He has Brain Mets from oesphageal cancer .He is sleeping a lot more in the day bit more active thru the night .He is mostly eating toast now and biscuits icecream .His brain tumour is in the communication  center so conversations are more challenging these days .The last few days he had been confused on and off but can still wash and make a cup of tea. His mobility is quite poor so bit of a worry but what can you do .I will look after him for as long ad I can but if it gets too much will try and get him into a hospice .Have you thought about getting mum into the hospice ? I dont know how it works at the moment she does sound quite poorly now and it is really hard for you without support and you have done everything you can what an amazing daughter you are .Good luck and keep posting we will support you lots of hugs xx

Hi and a second warm welcome to Carers. That's a good idea of Granny  Sue's. If you ask your mum's GP to refer her to the local hospice it will open up a lot more help in the home and they can be ready to increase support as you and she need it. If you need to talk, please do call the helpline on 0808 0808 0000, the line is open 8am-8pm and is manned by experts and they can tell you when to expect the next call from the Macmillan nurses.

Love and hugs,

Thanks for your message Granny Sue. I’m so sorry to hear about what you and your family are going through. 
I’m not sure ref hospice care. I’d read that most have closed their doors so had prepared that she would be at home with us. I should look into it. I thought once on palliative care people helped with this sort of thing? 
Are the community district nurses visiting your husband? 
My mum has mets to stomach, liver and lungs. The cancer has spread a lot in her liver but CT scan from Feb showed its still functioning but nobody knows how fast it’s now spreading since chemo ceased. She’s feeling sick a lot due to the liver mets though and the anti sickness tabs hospital prescribed weren’t easing it. I phoned GP last week to see if they could change them and the practice haven’t received any notes from hospital since November. He prescribed ondansetron but these have now made her constipated, so had to sort something for that today. It was awful at the pharmacy. They were so stressed and said people had been in shouting at them all day and the queue was down the street. I feel like I’m a pain all the time phoning but what am I supposed to do?? Everyone is so stressed due to covid. Just such a sad time 

thanks for listening. It helps just getting things off my chest. Xx

Thank you for your message. I phoned GP last week and my mums hospital notes haven’t been past to them yet. He told me to photocopy anything we have and post them to the surgery but you don’t get copies of scan results given do you do you. 
I am coping but just feel I need a plan in place. Nobody was prepared for this virus though and I understand everyone is stretched - it’s just making what’s already a sad, hard time worse for everyone isn’t it. 
Thanks for the number I will keep hold of that. Xx 

Bless you Lucky .We are on the district nurse books but havent used them apart from intuial reference when he took a downward turn a couple of months ago .We were having a palliative nurse visit up until this lockdown started then phone consultation but havent heard from them this week .Dont apologise for ringing you are not a nuisence and sometimes you just have to keep on to people to get what you want .Ring G.P ask for hospice referral .Even if they arnt taking in people you should still be able to access some support by phone .On here we can all pool our experience and support each other .Im hoping Bill dosent get worse over lockdown but you never know .We all deserve to have some plan in place  and even if sources are more limited because of covid 19 everyone should be able to get some support .Keep in touch will always be here to listen it really does help lots of hugs x