Last night my father (while feeding him is pureed food) aspirated. I panicked, freaked out. called 911.
His hospice nurse said this is going to be common occurance with him. Any advice how to get through this? My poor father was in TEARS, I Was in tears . ER did Xray and showed haze in the lower right lung so they prescribed him Levaquin.
I am so scared this is the beginning of the end.

This is the worst--know that I have been where you are at and deeply feel for you! This is always going to be a matter of opinion. It all depends on the wishes of the patient with HD or family decisions. Did your father ever voice if he is open to having a feeding tube? If so, is he strong enough for the sugery? If not, how has he adjusted to eating since the incident...usually once this occurs, fear of eating begins and then results in decrease in caloric and nutrional intake. Horrible decisions.. Another option is TPN which is nutrition through IV.. ... I don't know if a regular IV would be suitable or a port which is a surgical implant in the chest would be necessary. Again, this is an individual decision and would require implementing your father's wishes or family making decisions. In my experience, adult family member who had/have HD opted not to have medical feeding. It comes down to quality of life....Given you noted hospice, I am assuming your father is considered end stage but sometimes that can fluctate as I have witnessed patients on hospice and then no longer require it as quality of life improves for a period of time....

Best of luck and please keep us posted.. My best suggestion is speaking with the doctor to get all your options.

Stacy

I am so sorry this is happening to you and your dad. Sending hugs. I have no personal experience with this aspect of HD, I'm sure you were both so scared.

Take care,

Carla

Thanks yall. So far so good with the feedings. We havnet had any more episodes, we just slowed down the feeding time, put less on each spoon full. I can tell he is a tad nervous during feedings, rightfully so.

I'm also so very sorry. This is a very tough time in the disease process, I remember all too well my beautiful Raymond aspirating on his food. As Stacy said, this is the time when usually doctors will give options for feeding, such as feeding tube, etc., depending on your loved one's wishes. Ray also opted to not have a feeding tube. Very difficult decisions, though.

Another quick question. those that opted to NOT have a feeding tube placed--how quickly did things decline from that point???

From my experience my husband's grandmother went the feeding tube route.

My sons have already decided...no feeding tube.

My heart goes out to you. I remember as a teen, I would help my mom with feedings and she would often fall into chocking episodes. Her food was pureed as well. She eventually chose to go with a feeding tube, as she choked quite often and was afraid to eat. She was also of a petite frame and lost quite a bit of weight. Once she was on the feeding tube, she was able to maintain a healthy weight and it alleviated her anxiety.

But if there's no feeding tube involved, some good advice would be to make sure he is focused on eating. I find it made it worse for my mom when she tried to talk or tried to put more food in her mouth before she swallowed. Making sure she was focused on eating made all of the difference. I would also try to make sure her mouth was empty and that I fed her when she was exhaling. For liquids, we would add a thickener so it was easier for her to swallow. Hope that helps you.