Heart attack. Pneumonia. Parkinson's disease. COPD.
It's not a good line up. They are transferring my dad to the big city tomorrow for cardiac catheterization. He had six bypasses 13 years ago, and has a pacemaker/defibrillator in place. He's tired. He's discouraged. And he knows that the Parkinson's is going to continue to limit his mobility and his independence.
"How do I go about getting a DNR order?"
Sigh. It's not that he's giving up entirely. He wants to have the cath done, although he's not sure what he'll decide to do if they need to do surgery instead of, say, angioplasty or stents. He's taking his meds, but he's ready to make the tough choices.
It turns out he doesn't have a health care proxy. He's never thought about things like ventilators, feeding tubes, hydration, vegetative states. And he wasn't up to discussing all of it, but he's thinking about it.
So now I have yet another health care proxy form in my collection. And there's a DNR order on his chart.
Sigh.
DeeDee
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