Bills final Journey
8th May 2024
Bill went to his local doctors as weeks before hand he claims he may have stumped his toe and was causing him some pain.
His local Doctor explained that he must be seen by the local hospital.
Bill and his Wife Joyce attended the same day.
Upon admission Bill was given antibiotics to clear up any infection that he may have, and in the meantime, discussions were made that possibly an amputation of 2-3 toes maybe required later.
Whilst Bill was in hospital his daughter kelly took some before and after pictures of her dad’s toes to see if the medication would be indeed working.
Within 4 days Bills toes had started to change back in colour apart from 1 toe. The Purple toes started to turn pink, and the darker / black toes started to turn purple and so forth.
Whilst Bill was already admitted into Carlisle Hospital, they performed angioplasty on Bills leg.
13th May 2024
Bill was sent home with 1 week’s course of antibiotics.
By the 20th May Bill started to become unwell, feeling week, lost appetite and sleeping a lot.
His family decided to bring down a bed into the front room as Bill was complaining about his leg being sore where they had performed the angioplasty and the family naturally thought this is just a recovery period.
24th May 2024
Kelly took her dad to the local doctors to have the dressings changed on his toes as advised by Carlisle Hospital.
At this point the antibiotics Bill had been given had ran out as he was only given a 1-week course.
She mentioned to the staff that she thought that maybe her dad’s foot and toes were possibly infected, this was dismissed and told it was ok nothing to worry about. Bills leg was also extremely shiny over his shin and calf, even more so for anyone to just touch it was causing him some significant amount of pain.
25th May 2024
Kelly managed to source a wheelchair for her dad and decided to try and perk him up by taking him out for coffee and cake. However, Bill was not himself and refused the cake as well as the coffee. At this point Bill could barely keep his eyes open.
26th June 2024
Family took it upon themselves to have Bills symptoms investigated as he was becoming more unwell.
Bill Trotter was admitted to Carlisle Hospital located in Cumbria.
He was initially diagnosed with Gangrene of his toes and Cellulitis by the A & E Department.
After being on antibiotics for nearly a week, Bills family had photographic evidence showing that the antibiotics were infarct changing the colour of Bills toes just like they had previously done on his 1st admission 8th May.
However, a decision was made by Surgeons and consultants at Carlisle Hospital that a Below the Knee amputation was to be scheduled to save Bills life.
His family firmly believe that this was not the right decision however, Bill was at the time in that much pain he would have done anything at this point.
Bill placed all his trust into the Consultants and surgeons at Carlisle Hospital to go ahead of the surgery.
His daughter had a discussion with the anaesthetist regarding the procedure; she was informed that due to her dads current Health conditions he was at “high risk of the surgery”.
However, an option was brought up into conversation from Kelly about possibly using a mild sedation and numb Bill from the waist down.
The anaesthetist replied “oh I never thought of that option before”
The surgery procedure was agreed, and this was then scheduled for 2nd June.
Michael who is Bills son also challenged the surgeon regarding the necessity amputation however the surgeon did not take too kindly in being challenged and argued the fact that he had “30 year’s worth of experience”
2nd June 2024
Bill went down to theatre around 10 am, his amputation was performed using popliteal blockers.
Bill recovered well from his amputation and his family were thrilled that he pulled through and was still with them.
Bill continued to improve and amazed us all with his courage and determination.
6th June 2024
Bill had been complaining of tummy pains to his daughter and Wife Joyce when they came to visit him on a morning, he also said he felt sick and had a full feeling in his tummy. They had noticed that Bills food intake wasn’t as good as it should have been.
They asked the ward if Bill could have some anti sickness tablets so then he could continue to eat and get his protein / food intake to speed up his recovery.
Whilst still not feeling himself Bill managed to continue with his rehabilitation physio as he was determined to come home, a fighter he was and always will be.
8th June 2024
On this day Kelly and Joyce noticed that Bill just was not himself, he refused to come out of his bed, not very talkative as he had been the days after his amputation.
They requested that her dad have a CT scan of his abdomen and pelvis.
The results were in from the scan, and the family were told it was all clear and there was no issue. The staff said they had no explanation as to why Bill felt this way.
Kelly then asked if a stool sample could be taken to rule out any possibility of an infection such as helicobacter pylori, but this also came back negative.
Moved Ward
Bill was moved into another ward.
Kelly and Joyce came into visit Bill as they did every day since his surgery to find Bill lying in his bed full of faeces and him holding down the buzzer for assistance.
Bill had explained to his family that he had been buzzing for a while, but no one came.
They all continued to sit and wait for a further 20 minutes and still no one came.
Kelly decided to go and speak to a member of staff on the main desk of the ward.
When explaining the situation to staff she was dismissed immediately and told that they were too busy to attend.
Naturally they could not leave Bill lying in his own faeces so took it upon themselves to change him and clean him up in which they did with no help from anyone.
After changing Bill, a member of staff attended 5 minutes later to say to Joyce and kelly “this is my job” as Kelly replied “too late we have done this now”
Disgusted at how her dad was left for such a long time, kelly asked to speak to someone in charge and when she was speaking, she was abruptly interrupted by staff who told her
“ I have to get home I have kids I don’t have time for this”
Bill requested he be moved to another ward which was agreed a few days later.
11th June 2024
By this point Bills family were becoming even more concerned. He was becoming extremely fatigued, he was not eating as much, this was mentioned to staff, but again no action was taken.
Notes had been written down by Hospital staff that Bill was fatigued (in his medical notes) but again nothing was mentioned anymore and nothing was actioned.
Bills family then had to raise a point to the hospital about getting a dietician involved to help with his protein needs and food intake as this was slowing down his rehabilitation with physio to come home.
14th June 2024
Wife of Bill and his daughter kelly came into see Bill and noticed something was a little off.
They raised their suspicions of Bill possibly having had a stroke or infection to the medical staff given what his symptoms were at the time –upper lip swollen- decreased appetite, drowsiness, confusion, tummy pains, nausea. Sadly, this was dismissed with her thoughts, and it fell on deaf ears to be told that this is normal behaviour within the elderly and from being in hospital.
Bill was no ordinary elderly gentleman, so this synopsis did not fit well into Bills character at all.
16th June 2024 (Father’s Day)
All the family came to see Bill for Father’s Day including his 4 grandchildren who he adored and were his world. The family spent most the afternoon there trying to get Bill to eat and interact.
On the evening Kelly stayed with her dad as she still had her concerns over his current and past symptoms, and she now needed answers.
She spoke to another Doctor on call that night and insisted that someone comes over to speak to Bill and run further tests, they finally agreed.
The doctor performed a physical examination on Bill.
Bill failed on his memory test.
He could not remember any of his grandchildren’s names, he thought he was in a basement in Lancaster Hospital, and he did not know what day it was let alone the year.
Kelly insisted that scans were to be done, and bloods taken immediately.
Finally, someone listened.
17th June 2024
Doctors confirm that Bill has a severe UTI infection with Urosepsis and Enterococcus due to a full bladder.
Remember the scan taken 8th June?
Below are the findings of that scan that was apparently all clear!
- Significantly distended urinary bladder
- Bilateral mild hydroureteronephrosis
- Increased volume of the pneumoperitoneum
- Intraperitoneal fluid around the liver
- Distended thin-walled gallbladder with gallstones
********ALERT********
SIGNIFICANT RADIOLOGICAL FINDING REQUIRING THE ATTENTION OF THE CLINICAL TEAM
********ALERT*******FOLEY CATHETER REQUIRED
18th June 2024
The hospital finally fitted a catheter at least 16 days after Bills amputation to which drained 900ML Turbid / pus urine.
Bill was then given antibiotics to try and clear up this infection.
22nd June 2024
Bill had been Bedridden for quite some time at this point, not eating and not even wanting to sit in a chair.
The next issue the family had to deal with was an infection to the posterior.
A further scan taken showed what the hospital believe was a gas filled infection that was brewing inside of Bills Body possibly a fistular?? Again, the Hospital could not give a correct diagnosis.
The family was given options of a stoma bag or pack the wound.
Please note that at this point the family were just told about Bills gas infection and not shown anything apart from a picture of a CT scan on a screen.
28th June 2024
Bill has now been diagnosed with a health condition called Fournier’s Gangrene.
The family were asked to come to Bills bedside to discuss that there was no treatment for Bill in his current condition and that they need to say their goodbyes.
Carlisle Hospital also tried to put in place a DNR which was against the family and Bills wishes, Bill had urged his wife not to sign anything!
The surgeon who amputated Bills leg said his stump was not healing and now turning ischemic.
Bill sat up in bed and told the Surgeon “I trusted you and you have let me down”
Obviously Bills family do not give up easily and rallied round to seek a second opinion, organising a private ambulance to have Bill transferred to another hospital.
Please note that Bill was only on antibiotics, no fluids and no oxygen.
Carlisle Hospital refused to help and did not agree that Bill should be moved to another Trust Hospital. The family were told that if they tried to move Bill, they would take their concerns to someone higher to stop the family from moving him.
29th June 2024
Bills family requested that he have his own room as they offered the hospital that they would pay for their own medical staff and nurses to come in and care for Bill, this was again refused by Carlisle Hospital.
Bill was now settled into his own room and at this point his family had never seen the damage to his backside until now.
He asked to be rolled over and see what all the fuss is about, to the horror of his family Bill had what can only be described is a hole the size of a golf ball on his backside.
His skin was bright red, bleeding and in some parts black and grey. His Sacrum to his backside was dark in colour and swollen. Joyce his wife fainted in the room with shock!
Bills two children Michael and Kelly wished to speak to staff regarding the condition their dads backside was in and why family was not informed sooner of the severity.
The family had also noticed that Bills blue medical file that was outside of every patient’s room and foot of the beds was permanently missing from their dads bedside. When Kelly and Michael questioned staff, they were told “we are going digital so we need it to upload on our system”
30th June 2024:
Family was told of an antibiotic called Clindamycin.
Michael and his wife Suzie (Bills daughter in law) were told it would not make a difference, but Bill was their family and would fight for him.
Within 24 hrs the wounds skin colour had changed from dark to lighter in colour – facts that were pointed out to Doctors and Consultants on Bills 1st Admission.
As the family have also stated time and time again, if its gangrene its black stays black its dead.
Clearly not in Bills case!
Over the week
Bill started to eat, sit up, more alert, drink and became more chattier than he had been in the last few weeks.
5th July 2024
Bills family were approached by staff of the ward requesting a meeting in which they agreed.
Within the meeting Bills family were informed that his diagnosis has now changed again!
Now to a rare disease called calciphylaxis, they ran through different options to the family of how they might be able to manage his condition going forward.
Tissue viability team were present also discussing the wound care he would receive such as ointments and gels.
11th July 2024
Kelly walked into to see her dad in the morning to notice that his stump was shiny and red where the stitches were. This didn’t appear to be normal, so she had a suspicion that the wound care gel for bills backside was put onto his stump where he had the amputation.
She asked staff if anyone had put something on her dads amputated leg.
She was approached by a member of staff who abruptly argued that she knew where the wound care gel is supposed to go and that is the advice she was given, she argued that this was incorrect and that it had now caused discomfort to her dads stump.
A trained nurse had applied wound care gel to Bills amputation stump this had then opened up his stump and dissolved the stitches.
The Trained nurse in question later that morning retracted her statement and agreed that the gel should not have been applied to this area.
12th July 2024
Carlisle Hospital stopped Bills medication of Clindamycin and changed him over to Tazozin.
Carlisle Hospital rang Kelly at 9am to say Bills Dying come quickly!
She alerted the rest of the family, and they all came to the hospital immediately. The family were very confused at this point as Bill appeared to be improving just the night before and now, he was dying??
Bills Family told to say goodbye as he is “having a heart attack.” There was no heart attack.
A trace on Bills heart was done which showed no signs of a heart attack.
Michael and Kelly suggested that he could be having an allergic reaction to penicillin as they recall their dad had issues in the past with penicillin, but again this was dismissed by staff.
13th July 2024
Kelly came to see her dad in the morning and for the 1st time in weeks she seen her dad as he used to be. Chatty, sitting up and remembering everything. He even asked for fried eggs bacon and tomatoes in which she was happy to get him, and they had breakfast together.
All positive signs the family thought at this point.
Later in that day she was dealing with her dads cleaning needs with her Husband Gary (Bills son in law) as her dad requested her to do this as he told her that staff were “too rough WIPING rather than dabbing his wound”
When cleaning Bill, she noticed what appeared to be a blood clot come away from Bills backside and she alerted staff immediately just in case this was a significant finding.
Kelly and Gary were asked to step into the relative’s room by the Ward manager who accused her of putting her hand inside of her dads wound on his backside and causing him pain and discomfort.
Gary immediately told the ward manager that this is untrue.
Kelly was extremely upset and hurt at the fact anyone would think that she would cause her dad the harm they accused her of as she was the one caring for him and making him comfortable.
Later in that day family noticed that the wound care gel that was prescribed for Bill was not available.
Staff said they had “ran out” family offered to buy some.
After much deliberation the Hospital staff agreed, and Kelly ordered it from Amazon for next day delivery herself at her own cost.
15th July 2024
Kelly received another call at 9am from Carlisle Hospital.
Bill is having a “heart attack”, and informed he was dying and that it would be “cruel to keep him alive.”
Michael and kelly still suspect it was a reaction to the new antibiotic and asked this to be stopped immediately. After back-and-forth conversations with consultants an agreement was made to revert back to clindamycin and Tazozin was stopped.
Bill was also a diabetic so with him not having the intake of foods as he normally would, the diabetes team instructed that his insulin was stopped until further notice.
16th July 2024
Bills family were with him and since his admission his daughter Kelly and Son Michael had always been there sharing the load to look after him making sure that he ate and kept out of trouble.
This night kelly left earlier to spend time with her family and kissed her dad and said I will see you tomorrow and he replied “I am going nowhere flower”
Bill had an evening with his son Michael and he stayed with him till after 10pm.
Within this time (family were unaware that Diabetes team instructed NO insulin)
Bill was given 10 units of Lantus in the evening by the Doctor on call, and she prescribed this of her own opinion. His blood sugars before his insulin was 8.3
Kelly rang her brother after 10.30pm and insisted someone go back as something felt not quite right. Michael returned to the hospital and sat with Bill till after 12am.
Kelly spoke to her dad who complained of a bad headache, and they said their goodbyes and speak tomorrow.
17th July 2024
Kelly arrived at the hospital earlier than usual. She walked in her dad’s room with Nurses and Doctors around Bills bed. She asked if everything was ok to be told “Bills just had a hypo and sleeping it off”
It was only when she asked how low his sugars were, she then realised that her Dad was in a Coma.
She was then asked by the consultant if this had happened before and how long did it take Bill to regain consciousness.
Bill had become unresponsive at 6.55am.
The Hospital staff had taken his blood sugars which showed they had dropped to a dangerously low reading of 1.2.
Michael came shortly afterwards to be with his dad and give his sister support.
Hospital staff and consultants informed Michael and Kelly that they tried to check Bills blood sugars in the early hrs of the morning; however, he refused?
Bill had never refused having his bloods taken or monitored at all in his whole time of admission.
At 9.30am Bills Daughter and Son were asked to attend a meeting that had been setup by a Consultant at Carlisle Hospital to discuss End of Life (EOL).
As the two siblings sat at their father’s bedside as he lay in a coma a gentlemen arrived wishing to speak to them both.
Upon the horror and shock the stranger was not from End-of-Life team but a Safeguarding officer.
The Safeguarding team had been contacted by various members of staff on the ward about the treatment Bill had been receiving from his family members including Bills Wife.
Bills children listened to the allegations that were brought to them and saddened and disgusted at the spurious fabricated lies that the Safeguarding team had been told by Carlisle Hospital.
What made the situation even more, so upsetting is that Bill was lying there in a coma.
Michael showed the Safeguarding officer all the evidence that the two siblings had compiled and the case against Bills Children was dropped with immediate effect.
The Safeguarding officer brought in a consultant who initially setup the End Of Life meeting and the two siblings asked why were they lied to about the meeting?
The response they received “well I had to get you here somehow”
At around 4.30pm the family insisted that Bill have a brain scan to see what extent of damage their father had endured due to the coma.
The consultant in charge of Bill at this time arrived back to his room to discuss letting Bill go with dignity. As any family member would do, they kept fighting for their dad and insisted they knew about the brain scan results.
It was also suggested to the two siblings that Bill leg may have never had to come off!
The two siblings were informed that the brain scan came back all normal.
Only after the event when the family received the medical bundle of their dad this had disclosed that indeed there was an infarct (Stroke lesion) on their dad’s brain.
Joyce, Michael and Kelly decided to pack a bag, cushions and blankets so they could all sleep in Bills room with him in the hoping that he would wake as in the day he was showing signs of being aware.
Bill was breathing unaided, heart rate and oxygen all within normal range.
18th July 2024
Joyce, Michael and Kelly all got ready to settle in for the night and switched off the lights at 2:05am
Within minutes alarms started to ring and Bills heart rate started to drop, kelly pushed the buzzer to alert the staff. Michael and Kelly asked staff to help but they stood at the end of the bed and refused stating that the DNR that Bill and the family refused to sign had been overruled and signed off by members of staff.
Michael used to be a trained lifeguard and knew CPR, so he performed CPR on his dad.
Sadly at 2:19am
Bill passed away with his wife Joyce, Son Michael and Daughter Kelly by his side.
Bill was the heart; the rock of the Trotter family and he will and is still greatly missed by all.
His Children Michael and Kelly have vowed to continue this fight for their dad at any cost and a level that no one will have ever seen before!
Rest in Peace our beautiful dad well all love you, forever and always xxx