The Doctor did come out to DM. Thanks. Hope you are soon feeling better yourself. 
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Has anyone had / got this, started about 18th of this month with sore throat and just can't seem to shift awful cough and stuffed up nose and head ( feels like I am swimming under water) wake up with mouth like the bottom of a bird cage. Have been taking paracetamol etc but does anyone know how long it lasts
The Doctor did come out to DM. Thanks. Hope you are soon feeling better yourself. 
NannyTee you're welcome and I hope you get some support.
I was due to see my GP tomorrow for an appointment booked ages ago, but I just won't be able to go to the surgery. A doctor is coming to see me at home instead and this will be the second time in my adult life I've had a home visit. The first time was after major surgery. I've been feeling worse, not better for the last few days and was being stupid stubborn about going to the surgery. My DH couldn't get on the phone quick enough to arrange it and the good news is house calls are done by practice doctors. I thought all home visits were done by agency doctors now.
Well thank-you so much for that information Wilma. I will be in touch with DM's GP today to see what can be done. My DM is usually also fiercely independent. She needs no help at all usually ( unless it entails light bulb changing etc etc ). It was this flu that started it all. When she was in hospital, they had to wait several days for her knee swelling to subside. They thought it was broken, however it was twisted and torn ligaments. She could not even walk on leaving hospital. She is now getting around with her walking stick . She is just so weak with the virus. I know it can take weeks. The OT arranged for her to have extra Bannister's and hand rails put in for the stairs. She was also brought a high backed armchair for easier standing. She was assessed by the physio going up and down stairs. This was last week about two days after being discharged. Since then myself, my Sister and my DD have been cooking and cleaning between us. I just find it exhausting as I have Narcolepsy/Cataplexy you see. Hopefully this dreaded flu will finally subside and give her some strength back. Thanks again for your help.
I think you should try and get the doctor to see her and let them decide what needs to be done.
Did the hospital discharge team not arrange for any external carers to come in to help? That's what happened to my 82 yr old FiL last year after he was admitted to hospital because he lost the use of his left leg. He was not discharged until a follow up care plan was made by the hospital discharge team. It was that team that ordered the equipment he would need at home and also arranged for a home visit from a care company on the day of discharge. He was discharged from hospital in the morning and the appointment with the care company was in the afternoon. The first carer arrived that evening.
Initially the care was paid for by the community NHS team because it was classed as part of his treatment. In other words his treatment was carrying on at home under the community NHS team, freeing up his hospital bed. This team only deals with discharged hospital patients.
Then, when he had recovered to a certain extent, he was discharged by the community NHS team and handed over to the Social Services team for an assessment of his care needs going forward. At this point he was waiting to see a consultant and unlikely to improve much more before then. In other words, that part of his treatment was over.
A social worker then visited him at home and arranged care for him until a financial assessment could be made by social services. In actual fact, all that happened was a change to who was paying for the care - social services took over payment from the NHS. The care carried on as normal.
Someone from social services then visited him at home and confirmed that he was not eligible for free care from social services because his savings were too high. So after the financial assessment we (me) had to arrange for a carer to come and the care would be paid for by FiL. The social worker gave me a list of the care companies in the area as my starting point and I spent a lot of time reading the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection reports until I had about 3 or 4 companies to contact.
I arranged for the new care company to visit my FiL to do an assessment of his care needs and then a date was agreed when the carer paid for by social services would stop and the new carer paid for by my FiL would start.
My FiL was and is far more able than your DM. When he was discharged from hospital he was able to walk with the aid of a wheeled walker and a zimmer frame. His problem was he could not get his socks and shoes on and off. He could manage everything else, albeit more slowly than usual. In time he came to only need help to get his shoes on in the morning.
Most of the care companies I contacted offered a minimum of one hour and we did not need an hour. Eventually it was the Social Worker who found us a care company that would come for 30 minutes. The only tasks the carer does every morning is put cream on his feet and lower legs (FiL is diabetic and needs to make sure his skin is kept in good condition) and puts on his shoes. The rest of the 30 minutes is filled with little tasks like light house work. It's almost a year now since this all started and 99% of the time it works well. But it was a lot to keep track of at the start and I was on the phone a lot. My FiL is hard of hearing and fiercely independent, so I was part of everything that happened (with the full support of FiL).
I write all this to give you some ideas of what should perhaps be happening with your DM. I don't have great health myself and it was a little while before my DH and I realised we were now caring for FiL, just not in our home.
Please ask for help because you need to look after your own health so you can continue to support your DM as time goes by. It's very tempting to say you can do something, when in fact you need to find a balance that works for you and your family. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should be doing it. Best of luck.
Yes Wilma I do. We had to wait two days for a zimmer and commode. I've done my back in whilst we waited. It's her chest that's getting her down . She's finished the antibiotics too.
NannyTee that sounds worrying. Do you think she was sent home from hospital too soon? 
I'm so worried about my DM . She fell whilst having a flu temp. She's 84 and can't shake it off. Me and my older DS are taking it in turns to stay over with her but now I am burnt out. It's so hard 
and [hugs] to you all, you poor things. Really hope everyone recovers soon.
The same thing has happened with my DH Kitty. He got over it quicker than me - he thought, did too much too soon - and it's come back to bite him again.
Take to your bed in a darkened room and stay there until you're really, really bored and don't get up until you're well!! I know it's frustrating and you have a busy life but sometimes you have to retreat for a while.
I got a good 5 hours sleep last night, but the Night Nurse had such an effect that I slept for about 4 hours this afternoon as well. I don't feel at all rested though, just really jaded and if I take it again tonight I might not wake up until lunchtime! Not being able to hear much noise outside my head means sound is dampened. Didn't hear the door or the phone and didn't know my DH had been out twice. Small steps.
Carefully turn the cake upside down and pour a good slurp of brandy over it and it will last until next Christmas.
DH has taken a steep downturn today after several days of improvement. I felt better today but then made the mistake of changing the bed linen. Immediately afterwards I had to crash out on the settee and slept for over an hour.
Well, I've gone off again! I have felt worse today than I have for over a week. I have got a banging head, awful cough and tons of green stuff swilling round in my sinuses.
Sorry for tmi but I'm really fed up. DH is fine.
I'm glad to hear people are improving! I'm still not 100% but am much better. The painful throat is still hanging about and the underwater effects of blocked ears is annoying. I also know I'm not quite recovered, because Dh offered to take me to a favourite coffee shop today and I said no thanks!

Don't chuck the Christmas Cake Gaga, tinned up it should last to Easter!
I'm still continuing to improve. In fact, I feel a whole lot better now, almost like my normal self..... but I'm still getting exhausted in the evenings and am usually in bed by 9.30. Not like me at all, as 11.30 is more my normal bedtime. I'm not complaining though, because I can deal with this - at least the coughing, wheezing, runny nose, headaches and painful eyes have all gone. Unfortunately my appetite is back to normal 
We are both improving thank goodness though DH, who normally has a robust appetite has lost it almost completely and I have had to chivvy him to eat. He is willing to drink lattes. Isn't milk supposed to be the perfect food? (So I tell myself)
I have half a Christmas Cake in the cake tin which will probably end up in the bin - sad after all the effort made to ice it so tastefully too!
Today I am going to do some chores - well the spirit is willing but..........
I think I may be on the mend. I didn't cough my insides out this morning, just an ordinary bout of coughing, although I still feel very weak and wobbly. Best Beloved though, has relapsed. Went to bed early last night with Lemsip feeling really poorly. Fingers crossed it was just a minor setback. He's not good at being ill. If this fast mutating flu is a sign of things to come I don't think we'll need to worry so much about an ageing population!
I'm rarely cold and that's not been one of my symptoms. Thinking back, even though I'm a Hot Hattie, for a few days near the start I felt feverish, but it didn't last and I didn't get achy bones which I usually get with a cold (don't get many of them). Can croak a bit more today.
I'm back on the Night Nurse tonight and it's a good job I checked the calendar today because my Drs appointment is on Tuesday, not Monday. 
I'm on my three week 'anniversary' and still have a painful throats, although I think it's easing off. Still got the blocked nose and ear and no energy. I'm just lolling on the sofa watching a box set with my daughter and doing some languid crocheting.
I've lit the fire, too, as although it's not that cold here, my legs and feet have been freezing.
4 weeks in and I still have a really sore throat and swollen glands. I am continuously clearing my throat and my voice is croaky. I feel boiling hot all of the time but that could be the menopause and have nothing to do with the virus.
I had hoped crashing out on the sofa would give me an excuse to do plenty of reading but I just can't concentrate on anything. Even magazines hold no interest.
Getting pretty fed up with the telly being on all day but there's not much else we can do.
I am usually a bit of a chilly mortal but adding an extra layer usually warms me up, but currently it is taking several extra layers and my appendages stay cold.
Apart from that I have been spared the cough, just a cold, cold blisters and blocked sinuses - and feeling absolutely wretched. I haven't done anything all day until I took to GN this afternoon.
It's strange because you'd expect to have a temperature along with all the other things but I don't think I did at all.
Liz46 No, I do not have a temperature. It is not the feverish type of coldness, no shivering, just feeling cold all the time, as if the heating wasn't working. (it is).
kitty. Thank you, I will just about have recovered in time to celebrate our golden wedding!!
MOnica, I'm warm today so about week 4! I am still sneezing periodically but stayed up till 10 pm yesterday. I had been sitting down all afternoon.
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