I received a call this week from my younger sister at around lunch time.
“Are you at work… I need you to come to QEQM. Mum had to give dad CPR this morning. They’ve taken him to hospital. The hospital say all we should all come now”.
Things could hardly have sounded worse.
It was an hours drive there. Plenty of time to be thinking about scenarios on the way. I felt sad for my mum. Must have been awful. Scary. Traumatic. My parents have been married for more than 60 years. Both in their eighties. Given her age and strength I wondered how effective CPR would have been. I anticipated my dad being on life support. Of him having suffered catastrophic cerebral hypoxia. Of decisions we would all be asked to make. I rehearsed the conversations in my mind.
He’d been admitted to the urgent assessment and treatment unit. My sisters and mum were at his bedside. He looked pale and was sleeping. He was not hooked up to life support. Things appeared to be better than I had imagined they would be.
My mum explained he’d not been feeling right for a few days. Spent time at the hospital the day before to investigate causes. Given some treatment to help with the COPD he has and was sent home. Woke up that day not feeling right. Told my mum he felt a bit weak and sat down at the dining table. Mum said that when she turned to look at him, ‘he was gone’. Slumped over at the table and appeared lifeless. She said he was breathing shallowly and very clammy on his head and face. My mum phoned the emergency services and performed CPR, presumably following the advice of the 999 call handler. My mum said she did this while my dad was still in the chair. My mum is 83 and not especially strong. There’s not a lot of space in their dining room which together with her physical abilities would have made getting him to the floor very difficult and awkward. The ambulance arrived within ten minutes. My dad did not need shocking and resuscitation. It seems he may have had an acute episode of low blood pressure, likely triggered by an exacerbation of existing cardiac and respiratory conditions due to a chest infection.
In hospital, he was put on bed rest, given IV fluids and antibiotics, and monitored. His medication regime will no doubt be reviewed.
By the next day my mum said he sounded much better. Dad had eaten some breakfast and could recall what morning medicines he’d been given. It looks like he’ll be okay, or at least as okay as can be hoped for, given his age and health.
It’s not a situation I’ve ever considered anyone gets much practice with. Turns out I was a wrong about that. That’s not to sound morbid. It’s just that his age and overall poor health kind of rules out what I wished him to have, a full and speedy recovery. We did well as a family on this occasion. I hope that some reassurance and comfort to my parents for the future.