After throat cancer surgery,I was trained by hospital to care for my husband with intention of bringing him home. Day 3,4,5 was rough due to withdrawal from alcohol. I decided short rehab therapies -ot,pt,speech therapy-in a facility were best for us. After 2weeks I feel he is good to come home. He has seen his surgeon,all is good there only a swallowing study needed, he is on bolus feeding currently nothing by mouth. However,the facility keeps saying he needs more therapies,why if originally I was to bring him home from hospital? He understands there is nothing by mouth until surgeon agrees,he is getting around well and I see some depression setting in.If surgeon was,is okay with him coming home why aren't facility doctors,therapists?
As he did fall back into old habits after his first bout with cancer, it may be best that he remain longer. I may check with facility about addressing through therapy his alcohol dependency, although he may disagree with this idea.
A friend of mine, an alcoholic, passed at the age of 54 on hospice. He had not told medical staff at the hospital that he was alcoholic. Intravenous antibiotics were administered which his liver could nor pdocess correctly. He became septic, then went into septic shock. Let the pros care for him and make sure they know he is an alcoholic!
Getting him as strong as possible before you bring him home is of the utmost importance. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!!
I would consider his alcoholic status as well. Was he an adult life time alcoholic? Have the underlying factors been addressed and resolved, or is there danger of a relapse?
And addressing only the NPO issue, this is challenging enough w/o any other issues. My father came home from rehab on an NPO status. I was trained in syringe tube feeding, and following instructions did so every 4 hours, at 7 and 11 am, then 3 and 7 pm when I switched to the machine drip feeding for overnight..
B/c Medicare wouldn't pay for larger feeding bags, I could only add 4 cans of the Nestle's Pro at 7, then added the remaining 2 when the bag had been depleted enough for additional fluids. That usually was about 1 a.m.
It only took about 3 - 4 weeks before I crashed and was so exhausted from the lack of sleep, in addition to the parade of therapists, that I overslept and missed 2 feedings.
If you don't have any help, unless you're Superwoman, you could easily face a similar situation of early exhaustion.
You husband is a recovering alcoholic, yes? Is he on anti-depressants? Why rush him home? Have the swallow study done whole in rehab. Much easier on you all.