"Parent with terminal kidney disease"

Recently, my parent was rushed to hospital by ambulance then transferred to Fiona Stanley Hospital.

The following day we were told my parent needed to go on dialysis. we had previously been told dialysis would kill them as their heart wasn't strong enough to withstand it.

So that day we went to hospital ICU to say goodbye.

The dialysis was a slow process (not the standard aggressive type) and with the help of very strong drugs, my parent completed dialysis over 4 days but they are still on very strong blood pressure medication for 7 days.

On day 7, the family had a meeting with the docs (my parent included) which outlined their terminal outcome.

This time they saved my parent’s life. Their kidneys and heart were in complete failure.

The dialysis removed all the toxins from my parent’s body that their kidneys could not. the fluid build up due to kidneys failure caused the heart to fail, thus my parent was dying.

My parent’s kidneys appear to be functioning again, although it is unknown at this stage how well. the heart is functioning better but again until the strong drugs are removed they are not sure how well.

We have been told this dialysis treatment is not an option when (not if) it happens again.

1. because this is not a liveable life.

2. no guarantee that the response would be the same.

So basically, my parent will hopefully get well enough to come home and to be prepared that the end is coming. We have been told it maybe days, weeks or months.

Three days later, my parent was moved from ICU to CCU (coronary care unit), and that is when all communication from the hospital to the family ceased.

The blood medication ceased three days after. My parent’s original medications were slowly re introduced, monitored and tweaked daily from the following day.

Everyday my parent’s medicine was altered and they were monitored hourly.

Two days later by parent was transferred from CCU to a ward, and on the following day they were discharged, much to the disagreement / outrage of the family.

Due to enormous lack of communication from anyone in the hospital, we talked to every person related to my parent’s care and expressed our concern of my parent leaving hospital too soon. Our concerns were swept away, basically my parent was back at baseline now, so job done.

My parent got home and settled. 2 hours after arrival, my parent had a fall in the bathroom, which took my other parent and two elderly neighbours to get my parent up. One of the exact reason we didn't want them home yet. That was the exact scenario we outlined.

Whilst hurt, my parent is ok but my other parent’s nerves are shot.

There are no support services that can come and help both of my parents, until an assessment is completed, which may take weeks.

The hospital told us that responsibility falls on family and friends.

At the time of writing this, my parent is sliding downhill really fast and I believe none of this would have happened should the hospital had kept them in under observation (tweaking medicine and doing ongoing physio) for a few more days, as we were requesting.

In my opinion, patients are being removed from hospital too soon!

I am sure my parent will be returning to Fiona Stanley within the week, and this time I feel they will not come home.