Surgery for Stage 6 Alzheimer Woman - 86 yrs old

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not put a non-demented 86 year old through this. [/quote

A non-demented 86yo would be able to make their own decision.

This is for the people considering heart valve surgery:

My non-demented parent had two heart valve surgeries at 92. Yes, they had some delirium in the hospital after the surgeries - but they have recovered 100% and that was a year and a half ago. At the time, I looked up the statistics on heart valve surgery on patients over 90yo and they were pretty good; if I remember correctly, they live an average of another 5 years. To me, dementia and quality of life changes everything. It was something the doctors asked us about before my mother's surgery and my mom had pretty good quality of life for an elderly person. (She does use a walker because of a previous hip fracture, but she is of sound mind, reads novels, keeps up with politics, goes out to dinner, holds daily conversations with her grandchildren, etc.) My dad has alzheimer's and I would make a different decision but this specific surgery is an option for non-demented elderly.

[Anonymous]

No surgery. Comfort care only.

[Anonymous]

I do have experience with someone showing signs of dementia pre-surgery and definitely hacing it post surgery. I would never put someone with late stage Alzheimers through surgery. Insane, but I would consult with a lawyer about how to follow any directives so family doesn't come after you. Why biopsy and why go through cancer treatment?

Trigger warning for those who don't want to know-this will be morbid. Let me tell you how Alzheimers can look if you make it to the bitter end....you can't walk, talk, use bathroom on own or feed yourself.You are at high risk of aspiration and pneumonia. In the case of one of my parents, all you can do is moan and try to remove all the wires attached to you, but because you stipulated you wanted every life saving measure, when you pull it off, hospital staff must put everything back on as you moan some more in distress.

[Anonymous]

This is your answer.

The job of being a healthy care proxy is to try to figure out what the person would want, if they could "speak."

You may still have a challenging road ahead, but you should be clear on this.

You are being a good child, at a hard time.

[Anonymous]

He is just being a doctor. Following accepted practice for adults with a mass (i.e., figure out what it is, so you can recommend treatment).

It is not the doctor's call to decline treatment, though he should be very receptive to a discussion of its advisability (i.e. describe what both options would likely entail).

[Anonymous]

Late to the opinion game but I’m the OP of the post regarding my mom’s knee surgery and hospital delirium. She’s 81 and had mild to moderate cognitive decline. The general anesthesia really accelerated her decline. Her short term memory is pretty much gone at this point. She had been declining slowly over the past few years but after surgery it’s been a marked decline. Definitely don’t do the surgery OP.