Pulmonary Oedema Update Fao Sqad

[jourdain2]

Bro-in-law spent a very uncomfortable time in Jimmy's (Leeds). I managed to speak to a nurse last Saturday and she said he was comfortable and just waiting for his op. on Monday. My sister has since told me that he was in pain all the time.

The op. was postponed until Tuesday. Then they fitted drains and collected 2 litres of fluid. Drains remain in place and he has been sent home (bedridden) with a District Nurse calling twice a week to collect from the drains. Yesterday she collected 1/2 a litre. They have taken biopsies in case cancer is involved, but nothing was showing up as obvious at the time.

We wait, but my poor sister is near to collapse with the strain. She had 7 horses to turn out this morning (niece is a trainer) and she's doing it with a broken rib (a horse crushed her a couple of weeks ago). She's now 72, I'm older and live about 80 miles away.

Anyway, we have to await the results of the biopsy, but I'm beginning to edge towards thinking it's a failure of the pleuric membranes. I haven't a clue how bad that is. Any clarity being offered, please.

[Sqad]

Thanks for the update.
My thoughts remain the same....that amount of fluid is extremely unlikely to be coming from the lungs and is almost certainly a pleural effusion....coming from the lining of the whole chest and lungs.
Commonest cause would be pneumonia or cancer........there are other causes.

I have never heard of "failure of pleuric membranes".

Your feedback is appeciated.

[Sqad]

Jourdain2 in my opinion, this is a big deal and isn't going to end well for him.
Sorry.

[jourdain2]

Thank you Sqad. It's always best to know. It's so very hard. They've worked and struggled and things were just beginning to look good for their last years.
I can at least get things into place on the family front, without alarming anyone excessively, and be ready to whip my sister out of it when needed.
Thanks again.
I'll let you know. It would be easier if he weren't in such pain.

[barry1010]

I feel for you and your family and cannot comment on your brother-in-law's condition.

I will say, though, that your sister needs to look after herself, too. Can't your niece get somebody else to see to the horses?
Maybe your sister needs help with the housework and garden, looking after a bedridden loved one is a lot of work. Persuade her to think about getting a cleaner and/or gardener; suggest online shopping and getting prescriptions delivered.
Make sure they are both getting all the benefits they are entitled to, whether they think they need the money or not.
You may be too far away to give daily practical help but at least you are at the end of the phone and can listen. That will be enormous help to them both.

[jourdain2]

Thank you so much, barry. I admit to feeling a little overwhelmed, but your post has given me some practical ideas to work with. The horses are difficult. Almost all young, only 2 belong to family and one of those is a foal. They need knowledgeable handling, but perhaps we could find someone to do the letting into field, mucking-out and haynets. My sister lives right on the edge of a branch of Ilkley Moor so it's not very easy to reach, but again, it's probably worth a post on their local facebook page for help in the house. She's also still working 3 days a week doing reception, wages and all the paperwork for the MOT garage they run (nephew is running the practical side). He'll have to step up his act sharpish I think.

I'm so, so sad and feel fairly helpless. It will be good to have some direction to go.

[barry1010]

Glad to have given you some 'food for thought' as it were.