"My Mother's Decline and Death"

Appointments

My mother and father had been seeing the same primary care physician for over 30 years. They were in another country during the pandemic for 2 years and during that time my mother's health had significantly deteriorated. She wasn't able to focus her thoughts in the same way anymore. When she returned to Canada in the spring, she continued to see the same primary care physician every month who determined that her health had not changed. Her family could tell that she was experiencing changes in her prefrontal lobe and that other physical changes were accompanying it, causing her diabetes to become worse. Within 10 months of returning to Canada, in autumn, she was unable to walk because she had 'drop foot'.

Waiting time

Transport

Toilet

Other patients

One week before this happened, she visited her physician who did not see any issues although we had been requesting diagnostic imaging for several months. Then we tried to take her to the emergency department at the U of A hospital a day after seeing the primary care physician. She waited for 6 hours - there were two bathrooms and I couldn't get help for her toileting during that time so I ended up leaving without being seen. She received the covid and flu vaccinations two weeks earlier at a pharmacy and I was hoping she wouldn't get infected by another respiratory infection.

After she couldn't walk a week later, we transported her to the physician's office and used a rented wheelchair on one of the coldest and snowiest days that month. At this point, he said to take her to the emergency department. We went to Strathcona community hospital and were able to be seen within 4 hours. There were a lot of children in the waiting area with respiratory infections and I was hoping she wouldn't get sick. Once she was admitted at the Strathcona emergency dept, they kept her overnight so that they could do a couple of diagnostic images on her chest. They saw multiple tumors in multiple organs. They asked whether we wanted to admit her as an inpatient and we agreed so that she could receive treatment and care for her toileting. She was transferred to the Misercordia a couple of days later and kept in the emergency department there for another week. After this, she was given a room in the Medicine Unit with four other elderly women who had infectious diseases. She stayed in this room for two weeks waiting to receive a consult with the cancer care staff. After the consult, she was told that they could do nothing for her, which was heartbreaking. The physicians in the Medicine Unit asked us to transfer her to palliative care. We were looking into the options for about a week after this and on New Year's Day she came down with major respiratory symptoms. I asked for a covid test - it was day 1 of her symptoms and she had low viral load so she tested negative. The next day, the nurses tested her for a bacterial infection. She tested negative again but the physician kept asking her to take antibiotics. My mother refused - she was previously an RN and understood that antibiotics don't work if she didn't have a bacterial infection. Regardless, on day 4 of experiencing respiratory symptoms, they decided to transfer her to the palliative unit at Edmonton General Hospital which had a free bed. Before they transferred her, the EMT staff tested her for covid and she tested positive. She stayed one night at Edmonton General Hospital and died the next night. So in the end, within one month of experiencing foot drop, she had acquired a covid infection and died. 

Staff attitude

Treatment

Seeing the whole me

Daily living support

Involved in decisions

Staff skills

Care staff

Ambulance staff

Doctor

Being given time