Week Four B

I went on a home visit to a patient with a 10 year history of emphysema. this patient is on portable oxygen and is unable to come into the practice.
I have learnt the Signs and symptoms of emphysema but actually seeing the effects in a patient was eye opening. I was surprised actually how little exertion they could handle.

We were able to take him through a few general movement exercises( eg. hip flex/ext/abd/add, March on the spot, heel raises. he was only able to complete two at at time before he needed to have a rest. I felt helpless when he had to rest because all we could do with give him the time he needed to feel better and ready to go but i still feel that us just being there was pressure on him.

We educated the man to do exercises and deep breathing as often as possible and something is better than nothing. i found out that this mand had a stroke and passed away. this is the first patient that i have treated and has passed. this was hard to deal with as i already felt for him in his situation. my supervisor re-assured me that he he hadn't been traveling too well the last few months. it was a hard situation to be in.