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My mother has CHF, she is 99, she was diagnosed 4 years ago, she is being treated with meds, if she was not the doctor said she had about 5 years...who knows? Each person is different.

When it comes to the timing of death, there is no accurate way to determine.

You cannot expect someone at age 91 to not have anything wrong with them, I would accept it and move forward.
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Reply to MeDolly
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My dad had CHF for at least 10 years before he died from it. It was a slow moving, insidious disease. Over time he dealt with fluid build up over and over, causing shortness of breath and weakness. There were multiple hospitalizations to remove fluid that oral Lasix couldn’t do. He was so very tired of it. I cannot imagine treating it when there’s advanced dementia. My dad was very ready to leave this world and ultimately chose home hospice. It was a tremendous help. I’d encourage you to look into if you haven’t
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Reply to Daughterof1930
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JudyMc75 Dec 2, 2024
I am so sorry about your Dad. I know Mom @ 91 is just plain tired. The CHF is at least explaining SO MANY different symptoms she has been experiencing. Collapsing and non responsive for minutes at a time, high blood pressure spikes, extreme fatigue, weakness, anger, frustration, edema in lower legs and feet…just to name a few. We were blaming some on dementia and some on her age. It’s almost a relief to get this diagnosis. At least we know now what we are actually battling. It’s much harder to treat an invisible giant. Thank you for your support.
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My mother had CHF for 7 years before it, along with advanced dementia, finally took her life at 95. I prayed daily for God to take her out of her misery for 3 years prior. CHF was a blessing, in reality, because hanging on with dementia is a cruel fate even worse than death.

91 is a good long life already, which is now devastated with dementia. I hope you call in hospice for mom and keep her comfortable throughout.
Best of luck.
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Reply to lealonnie1
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Get on board with Hospice. Spend the time remaining with her, soaking up her 91 years of life experience and wisdom. Try to ignore the dementia best you can.

Talk about her happiest memories. Ask her anything you ever wanted to know. Play her favorite music (softly), bring her treats.
Don't be devastated, be very glad Mom had many good years. Cherish special people in your life like this as much as possible.
She sounds like an amazing lady!
All the best to you.
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Reply to Dawn88
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Truthfully, the medical professionals caring for your mother may not know and I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we certainly do not. Please consider palliative or hospice care for your mother, where you will be given some support and she will have comfort measures provided.
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Reply to MidwestOT
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JudyMc75 Dec 2, 2024
So, we do have a part time care giver that helps in Mom’s care. She is a true gift from God. I will definitely speak to my husband regarding your suggestions. This is actually my Mother in Law. My husband and I have been married for 40 years she is like my own Mom to me. I don’t mean to deceive anyone. I have called her Mom since the day we got married. She has lived with us for 9 years. She is a very precious treasure to me.
Isn’t palliative care for a little later on? Not sure which we should check out…probably could get that answer from her Doctor. Thank you for your support.
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Your mom has advanced dementia which has no happy ending but death, plus she's 91 and I'm sure is beyond tired of it all, so I wouldn't put her through anymore tests but would instead bring in hospice and allow your mother to enjoy whatever time she may have left and be able to die in peace and comfort without continuing to be poked and prodded with all these tests.
And while you may be "devastated" about it all, your mother I'm sure is just ready to call it quits, and I hope that in time you'll be ok with that as well.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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CHF or congestive heart failure, means just that--a failing heart pump, often due to aging or ASHD or both.
There is no cure for CHF, and treatment for it goes according to symptoms, whether fluid is due to left heart failure, in which case there is difficulty with fluid in the lungs, or right in which case fluid pools in peripheral extremities and abdominal areas, or both.

The physicians will assess and treat, and are your best guides as to any guesses at estimated length of life, because they know test results and because they know the patient herself. And I can tell you THEY--these MDs--often refuse to "guess" about the Grim Reaper's estimated time of arrival. We will be even less inclined to do so.

Our one commonality is that we all die. Your mom is in advanced age.
The important thing now is to consider your mom, her wishes for end of life (heroic measures or not), her feeling about palliative care and hospice, and her wishes in general. She should be reassured that medications can help greatly with this condition, but that it is important to stick to them, and to replace any loss of basic electrolytes, often washed out with diuretics; that means occ. blood testing.

You are--and I know you know this--very lucky in keeping your mom this long. That doesn't make grief easier. But it does help in acceptance and it should make you very grateful.
I am so sorry.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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No, no idea.
Her doctor who know the ejection fractions for her, and knows her overall health would be the one with the best guess, and as a nurse in my career I think that you will find that doctors and nurses won't make guesses. They are statistically unreliable.
Much depends also on how well her symptoms are monitored as she is treated.

Wish you both the best.
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