 |
 |
> In short, my father ( 68 yr.. ,PD for 1 year ) had heart surgery 5 weeks ago. >His heart is fine now , but all else is not. They have done 2 CT scans and say he has >not had a stroke. He continues to have PT and OP daily, with not a lot of progress. He >can not feed himself, any selfcare,stand or sit by himself. He can swallow soft foods. >He had a feeding tube put in last week. That way they will make sure he is getting >1600 calories daily. He speaks some, most of the time very hard to understand. He is >on Sinemet every 2 1/2 hours and something for the pain in his feet, I'm sorry I don't >know that one. This continues to be so trying on my mother, and myself. They live in >Illinois, ( I in Kentucky ), I call several times daily and visit when we can. >With all the experience you all have, is this possibly a permanent condition ? Do you >all think, in time, a lot of time , he will get better ? I know that we can never predict >what will happen. We keep praying that he will come out of this. Dear Kathy: My wife has PD but I had bypass last year. I lost my appetite totally for at least four weeks and could not even tolerate ices, and I lost well over 30 lbs. I was lucky in a way that both my room mate and I were upbeat and told jokes and kept the nurses in stitches. I could easily tolerate the loss of weight and every kept telling me that it was temporary. Indeed the weight loss was alas temporary. My cardialogist said that there is something about the heart pump that causes this loss of appetite. A feeding tube is very hard to take and that itself is depressing. The quality of medical and nursing care is of paramount importance in coronary rehab. Good cheer and optimism from everybody surrounding him should help. If professional psychiatric care is advised, take advantage and use it by all means. With best wishes Michel Margosis