We Need Help & Fast! - Kidney Disorders Message Board

mkrsav3 · 02-19-2007, 07:50 AM

My FIL was found Friday past out in his house. He was transported to the hospital & DX't w/renal failure. He is in a catatonic state and is not responding to anything. All he is doing is moaning & groaning. We can't get him to even open his eyes. His vitals are all good & they are just telling us that they do not know why he is so out of it. They do not have him on any meds at all & he just have an IV for fluids & a catheter. He has Hep C, is a severe alcoholic, and is fighting depression.(his wife died ayear 1/2 ago) I have asked for them to check his liver function and they say that it needs to be done, but nothing ever happens. He is just laying there helpless and lifeless and they will do nothing.
My husband hates him (my FIL abused my husbands mother) & his family will not have much to do with him due to the alcohol abuse. They have not even been to see him at the hospital. I am the only one and I am not even a blood relative. I just can't walk away. No matter what he has done, he is still a human being.
He has no insurance and no money. He was living in the worst living conditions you could ever imagine & just to look at him, one would think he was a homeless person. He is filthy nasty from his head to his toes. They have not even attempted to clean him up in anyway.
I am so upset over this whole situation and do not know what is going on with him and what to do about it.
If any of you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciste it.
Thank you so very much,
Kim

BTW....They have done a cat-scan and that did show some atrophy. (shrinkege of the brain tissue) Probably due to the alcohol abbuse over the many years.

WannaBeFreeToRoam · 02-20-2007, 12:02 AM

mkrsav3,

It sounds to me that the hospital is just letting him die from his renal failure and he probably has a very bad liver also.

If I were you, I would go higher up in the hospital - at the very least they need to clean him up. (Go to the top person, if the others do not give you any help for him) At least a good thorough bed sponge bath. And you might get him some pain meds - that is probably why he is moaning and groanin! I know they do not like to give them to an alcoholic, but if he is dying anyway, what difference does it make.

Take care. Your make a good patients advocate and you are right! He is a person. And alcoholism is a disease...

Wannabe

Cora1003 · 02-20-2007, 06:17 AM

If he is being dialysed, then the moaning and groaning and hallucinating is normal. That happened to me when I first went on. It was an emergency basis and when it is done that way it is quite common. The nurses told my Mom that they had never seen this before and weren't sure that I would ever be normal again, but the dialysis nurses told her that it happens all the time.

I would definitely complain to the hospital if they haven't even bothered to clean him. Yuck!

Best of luck to you and your family.

Cora

mkrsav3 · 02-20-2007, 08:02 AM

I spoke with the hospital this morning and was told that they had to up his O2 and hid vitals were dropping. They still have done nothing at all to help him. He is still just on an IV for fluids and a catheter. There has been no mention of Dialysis. I have asked about it and all that is said is "we will check into that for you". There is not a lot I can do since I am not immediate family. I did talk to his dad yesterday and he said that he was told there were trying to prepare Mike for DISCHARGE! On WEDNESDAY! I am even more upset today that I have been. I know for a fact that he has not had any type of nutrition since at least last Tuesday (7 days ago) and they blow me of when I ask them about dropping a feeding tube for him.
I have a call in with the social worker at the hospital and maybe she can help me figure some of this out. I can not get a Doctor to return my calls and I have tried to catch them on rounds, but they are never to be found. IMAGINE THAT! I can not just camp out up there until one wanders into Mike's room. I have a 4 year old daughter that I will not take around Mike. Even though he is catatonic at this point, she has seen him on more than 1 occasion in very poor condition. So I will not expose her to that again.

I just do not know how his family and the hospital can be so freakin' careless about a person.!

Thanks for your support. I sure need it!

K~

mkrsav3 · 02-27-2007, 08:16 AM

Thank you so much for asking. Things have not gone well for him.

A week ago today he coded, and they worked on hin for 27 minutes and were able to get his vitals to a stableize enough to move him to Critical Care. He went at least the 27 minutes w/no pulse. (not good) He was put on life support and we were told that he had a considerable amount of brain damage. It was as if they did not want to do anything for him until he died. Then every available staff member was at his side to offer him some help. Quite ironic if you ask me.

He did not have a Living Will, so the only thing that could be done was to just just sit with him until all of the machines could no longer do anything for him. It was awfull. He coded 4 more times and on Sunday morning his body finally gave up and he "legally died". It was so hard, but his suffering is finally over.

I never realized the importance of a Living Will until now. I will have one drawn up ASAP! No body should have to go through what his did. They ran tests on him 2 different times and each test showed zero brain function. But by law, they had to keep him on all of the meds to elevate his blood pressure and the ventalater to force O2 into his body. It was insane. I know I would never want that done if that were myself in that condition, and to think about putting my family in the position of having to sit there and witness all of that is just unthinkable.

Thank you again for your concearns, I wish the update could have been a happier one.

Kim