I am a carer for my husband with CHF
I am a newbie but here goes.
My husband has a long history of heart problems spanning 20 years but is now deteriorating. He had a cardiac arrest 11 years ago and has a defibrillator in place which will have to be replaced soon.
He had a mitral valve repair 20 years ago but it is now leaking and cardiologists have ruled out open heart surgery. He has worsening renal function and has just been diagnosed with hypothyroidism which must be treated. He has just had an iron infusion for anemia and his blood pressure is very low. His ejection fraction is below 40%.
He has also suffered with some form of non-diagnosable dementia for about 13 years but still plays bridge several times a week.
He has always been in denial about how bad his health is but with the new diagnosis of hypothyroidism, he seems to be struggling and with his 85th birthday coming up in a couple of weeks, he seems somewhat depressed.
I would appreciate some thoughts how to approach this subject with him mainly to see if he would consider palliative care or maybe counselling.
I do not live in UK so I understand that any suggestions have to be general in nature. And my apologies for the long post
Welcome to our community and thank you for sharing your husband's journey with us I am so sorry that you both are going through this. It would help if you ask his doctor first for ideas on how to encourage your husband to seek counseling. I will link a couple of articles about coping with mental health below. I hope that this answer was helpful to you. -Olivia https://heart-failure.net/mental-health/psychotherapy https://heart-failure.net/mental-health/general-resources Thank you for posting the links but we don’t live in the USA.
Hi Rosa. I am sorry that you are going through this. A few things come to mind. My sister is a palliative care doctor and she says that people think it is about end of life care. It's not about end of life, it's about enhancing the quality of your life. Maybe phrasing it like that? And overall, nobody really knows how much time we have left time. Getting help, in any form, is about making our present lives better. Also, if he still won't consider, have you considered just having a conversation and asking him questions to get him to think? Maybe if he isn't being told he will engage in the conversation a little more? I hope this helps! Morgan (heart-failure.net Moderator)
