Husband went to emergency room with possible heart attack Jan 1. He was diagnosed 11 yrs ago with Alzh. Cardiologist wanted to do heart cath and possible stints but morning he was supposed to have surgery cardiologist said he has Afib so pacemaker would be best strategy. I did not feel comfortable with rush to do either surgery because of his alz. Have heard that it can be devastating to their mental health.
I elected not to do that to him, and am glad I didn't put him through that.
NO judgements if you do go with the pace maker...just describing my situation.
In the end, we asked mom what she wanted to do and she wanted the surgery.
Based on what my mom had told me years before, she didn't want to live "like this" but in the moment, in real time, she wanted to extend her life.
If she hadn't been able to make the choice for herself, I wouldn't have said yes.
In reading your profile, I am so happy to see that you are using natural remedies to help your husband. I have my mom on most of those same supplements and will check out the doc you mention. My mom has mild/moderate (getting more solidly into the moderate level) dementia and I do not intend to have any surgeries performed on her. She was never big on medical intervention, always just letting her life decline as issues like bone-on-bone in both knees curtailed her ability to be active. When she moved in with us, I demanded she get them done. This has given her many good years on her feet where otherwise she would have been in a wheelchair and in a nursing home because I could not deal with that.
Anyhow best of luck. See what non-surgical suggestions they have, if any.
I just read up on the catherization. I may not have that done. If they find out his arteries are clogged you won't have bypasses done anyway. I may consider a pacemaker. Like lea said, they can have a local for that. Look on-line, there are videos showing how the procedure is done.
We all die of something someday. I'd bring in hospice and not subject him to medical procedures.
Choosing to extend someone's life who's suffering from advanced Alzheimer's is an act of cruelty in my opinion. For what purpose? To watch them continue to decline and suffer as they reach the end of their life????
I got a hospice evaluation for my mother when it was time to stop with all the medical interventions.
Best of luck to you
I would also recommend while you are considering all of this to get a second opinion from a cardiologist of your choice and or perhaps recommended by his primary. Afib can be handeled all kinds of different ways, some people can live with it, some are medicated (like my mom) for it and others need a pacemaker but typically they exhaust other options. Find a cardiologist or better yet a gerientologist to frankly discuss the pros and cons of either surgery as well as reasons to he e them. Personally depending on what stage he is at and not being able to make his own decision makes me lean toward palatine care, I don’t think I would put he or his family through surgery, stent may be a local anesthetic which is preferable but will he understand enough to be aware through it? I don’t know about the pacemaker, probably depends on the type but again is it all worth whatever trauma it causes him, if you think it could be traumatic for him.I guess I’m thinking about my situation with my mother, I think at this stage hard as it would be, I would choose not to do anything more and let her go naturally from afib or a heart attack if that’s what is to happen. I would and we do medicate her though for afib so not working to let her go if that makes sense.
You may choose now to do no surgeries.
Do know that not all atrial fib patients need pacemakers. I have had fib more than a decade with no pacer. My partner has had fib and has a pacemaker. Only for low heart rates is the pacer needed in most instances.
I would speak with Palliative Care MD to decide what measures you wish to address in future.
Wishing you the best.
It is actually your decision if he can not make an informed decision himself. And at this point he probably can't. NO ONE should try to talk you into doing this and no one should try to make you feel "guilty" if you elect not to have the surgery done.
YOU are the one that is taking care of him.
YOU are the one that knows how much you can handle.
If he had CPR preformed there is a good possibility that he is also dealing with broken ribs at this point.
ALSO will he be able to participate in Cardiac Rehab?
If I were in your shoes...If it were my husband I would elect NOT to do any surgery. I would request a Hospice referral and let Hospice manage his care from this point on.