Unfortunately my father died two weeks
ago. He was in hospital following a period
of illness. Unbeknown to doctors he had
been suffering from endocarditis (he had a
prosthetic valve in 1981). Despite
starting a course of antibiotics too much
damage appears to have been done causing
aortic stenosis (this is the cause of
death on the death certificate) and heart
failure. Whilst being ill for a while he
deteriorated very quickly on the last day.
In the morning he was having difficulty
breathing and was transferred from the
ward into the cardiac care unit. I am not
quite sure what happened next as no one
has really been able to tell us what
happened. In the morning he had been able
to talk to my mother despite having an
oxygen mask and difficulty breathing. At
some point he appears to have lost
consciousness. We spent from 2pm until he
died at just before 10pm with him.
Throughout this time he was unable to
communicate with us and showed no signs
that he was aware of anything. He was
heavily sedated with morphine which may be
responsible for this. He did however have
his eyes wide open although they were not
focusing on anything and again did not
show signs of responding to any stimuli.
Through this period he did experience 3
episodes where he would stop breathing and
then he would sit up and he would go
purple his eyes would roll back and he
would let out a horrific groan. This
lasted for about a minute after which he
returned to the same state as before. I
would be really grateful if someone could
explain what happened in these final few
hours and what the episodes were and if he
felt any of them. I would also be grateful
for any information that people could
provide on whether they think he was aware
of what was going on.
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rooted
Supporter
Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 393
Thanks: 5
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Posted: 01-27-08 13:01pm
I am so sorry for your loss. If you were
all present in the room with him, I'm sure
that he could consciously or unconsciously
feel your love for him.
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This page was last updated on June 11, 2008
