Summertime

It's summertime...life is a bit more relaxed in my household. But the pace of work life is just as frenetic as always. Patients are admitted to long-term care just as frequently as at any other time of the year. I've had several difficult tube feeding situations in the past month. One that comes to mind is my patient (Mrs. P) who had a stroke at age 80. Before the stroke she was ambulatory, living alone, and driving. She had a PEG placed in the hospital after her stroke and was sent to a rehab center. Unforunately, since her admission, her recovery has not progressed. She has been hospitalized several times and is not tolerating the tube feeding well. Medications have been ordered to help move the feeding through her digestive system. The last time I checked, she was alert but unresponsive, receiving all of her nutrition and hydration from a PEG feeding with very little quality of life. Mrs. P's family is understandably having a difficult time dealing with the suddden change in Mrs. P and her lack of progress. At this point her prognosis is very guarded.