Ramblings of Ru

I can't think of two nastier or crueller diseases, one robs the mind of its memories and slowly destroys the memories of the relatives as they watch the sufferer drift away, the other slowly destroys the body and makes you wish for a swift end for your loved ones so that they no longer suffer.
Add to the mix the totally inept National Health Service and you really have a roller coaster ride ahead of you.
For the last couple of days we have been in Bristol trying to sort out hospital/hospice care and trying to push the NHS into doing something/anything to help.
Salvatore is suffering with cancer in the area between his bladder and back passage. This was diagnosed on Christmas Eve, he was suffering before this date and in fact he was already very frail and infirm. However the local GP, a Dr Parrot, refused to admit him to hospital saying he was very capable of staying at home and looking after Lucia, his wife, and administering the drugs that help with her Alzheimer’s, despite the very obvious, well obvious to everyone including the district nurse and the palliative care nurse, that he was incapable of looking after himself let alone looking after Lucia.
We stayed with them all over Christmas to make sure they were ok and for large parts they were ok but we had to return to work as did other relatives which meant leaving Salvatore and Lucia to do what the Doctor thought was capable of them.
Cut to Sunday and we get a phone call from Lucia’s visitor saying he was very concerned about Salvatore as he seemed to be “fitting”. We called for an ambulance and rushed down and spent 4 hours in the Bristol Royal Infirmary’s accident and emergency department and to be fair the care there was very good. After some investigation the on duty Doctor decided he had pneumonia and gave him paracetamol and antibiotics which bought his temperature down and stopped his agitation (twisting, gnawing and involuntary noises) and making him a little more coherent.
He was then transferred to a ward for the rest of the night and we were promised that he would be fine and that no they didn’t need his medication as they had a full history and had everything they needed right there.
We went back to Salvatore and Lucia’s house where Lucia was being looked after by her carer, a very nice chap called Ben, and eventually went to bed around 2am.
Monday morning, before we can get to the hospital, we get a call from a visiting Aunt saying that Salvatore had been moved from the ward he was placed in to a new one and that he had not had any medication (remember he is in pain from the cancer and the pneumonia and confused from his high temperature and the original cancer drugs) and that the night before, because he was agitated, they had given him antipsychotic drugs to knock him out! His ward is over crowded, 1 nurse and 1 nursing assistant to 10 beds and everyone passing the buck!
To say we are angry would be an understatement!