Father recently diagnosed, what to expect now?

[sundogs3]

My father is 91 1/2. He has Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus with a shunt, and apparently he also has some degree of Alzheimer's Disease. At this point he is completely immobile, and the caregivers in the nursing home say he's getting weaker, can no longer stand by himself even while holding on for support because his legs give out. Recently he started breathing heavily and sounding congested. An X-ray ruled out pneumonia, and he has been on lasix for a few weeks. He is on palliative care only, and so he spends his days in the wheelchair and snoozing with a little group exercise (which he often won't do). He eats well although he is on pureed foods due to some swallowing issues. He has extreme aphasia, and while he really tries to talk, the words come out all garbled. He is obviously frustrated by not being able to communicate.

His O2 level read 92 consistently yesterday. The nursing staff thought he would receive oxygen at night, but they think he'll probably remove the delivery tube during the night.

How quickly can CHF progress? What we can expect over the next few months (or weeks or years)?

Thanks.  

[sundogs3]

Thanks for the explanation. I suspected as much, but thought I'd better ask, just to have some background information. I appreciate it.

[Dr J Singh]

Hi,

It’s really difficult to comment the progression and the prognosis of patients of heart failure. Some progress very fast and some stable for a good number of years. There are several factors which play a role in the progression of the heart failure. For eg. One episode of chest infection can suddenly worsen the functioning of the heart and similarly one episode of angina can have deleterious effect on the heart. Hence, if such acute onslaughts don’t occur, the prognosis may not be that bad.
The prognosis also depends on the ejection fraction of the heart.
Truly speaking, the prognosis depends on all these factors.

I sincerely hope that helps. Please do keep me posted. Kind regards.