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wendy

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Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
26
Reason
CALS
Country
CA
State
Ontario
City
Pembroke
Hi everyone!

Well it has been awhile since I posted anything my dad has been getting worse. I decided to take a leave of absence from work to be home with him. For those who don't know my dad has a feeding tube and is unable to swallow or talk at all. He has a lot of respitory problem with continual mucus build up. A few days ago the homecare nurse was in and told me that he has fluid in the lungs and to watch for a fever. So my question is can this fluid dry up on its own and can anything else happen besides phnemonia?

Thanks,
Wendy
 
I've always been told that fluid on the lungs is not a good thing. Has he shown any signs of getting worse? It could be the start of congestive heart failure, aspiration pneumonia and regular pneumonia can get bad for an ALS patient before a fever shows up. The only good way to tell what's going on is a chest x-ray. I'm presuming that if you're here asking questions then you're a bit worried. Can you get a doctor to make a house call? Is he up to going to Emerg. for a check up? Better to be safe than sorry.

AL.
 
Fluid buildup can be very difficult to treat... the feeding tube will help if meds are needed to treat it. I wouldn't wait for a fever to show up. I noticed you are in Ontario... In the GTA we have a service called Medi-visit. It's an on-call Doctor service and they come to your home. The number is 416 631 3000... Perhaps you can ask if they have a service that is similar in your area or even try to look it up on the internet. You do not have to be registered palliative in order to use it. Has your dad complained of pain in his chest? Can you hear a crackle sound when he is breathing? Just a couple of things to look and listen for.

Take care,
Paula.
 
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