My mom and I met with the hospice case manager yesterday, and Hospice sounds like assisted suicide to me. Mom has congestive heart failure (she just told me that yesterday) end stage of COPD, asthma, cronic asperated pnemonia, panic attacks, etc, so we meet with the Hospice case manager, at the encouragement of Moms hopsital case manager. And they want her to be a DNR, and if she has trouble breathing then they will help her work thru it. If she gets to the point she cannot breathe, don't call 911, but for ME to administer the meds... are they serious !!!! So let me understand this... Mom can't breathe, so I am supposed to be ok with giving her a medication that will relax her so she can stop breathing...? ! ? I don't think I'm ok with this at all.
Everyone said "oh hospice is just wonderful." What I see is assisted suicide, and everyone else standing on the other side of the fence saying oh look, she has hospice, her daughter will be so supported we don't need to do anything to hel[ now...
Has anyone had a family member with Alzheimer's and cancer?
I FIRED HOSPICE !!! The Hospice nurse wouldn't consider Morphine for my Mom and she was in terrible pain. It was an ordeal.
My Mom, who is 88 years of age, has had Alzheimer's Disease for 10 years. She currently resides in a nursing facility (8 years). She had breast cancer about 15 years ago and the breast was removed and chemo. One year ago, she had a small lump appear on her chest. Now, she has the lump the size of a small fist and it is cancer, has begun to ooze. She had a directive in place for no heroic measures. When the diagnosis came as cancer, I made the decision not to treat or surgery. With Alzheimer's and she hasn't know me in over 4 years, it just seemed cruel to put her through such an ordeal. She had pain - facial expressions and movements, and was prescribed Percoset. The last few weeks, she's been more agitated and appears to be in more pain. Hospice came and I signed up. BIG MISTAKE for my situation. I fired them and I've finally convinced the doctor at the nursing home to consider low doses of Morphine. That helped, but now had to prescribe more Morphine and Ativan. At this time, she is still drinking Mighty Shakes. She is much calmer and seems to be in not much pain with the scheduled an PRN drugs. Alzheimer's Disease patients cannot tell or express pain. What can I expect later from these drugs? My goal is to keep her pain free and comfy. I'm an only child (65) and I'm extremely devoted to my Christian Mom. The only thing I'm hoping is that God sends his best ANGEL to take her home and she can be whole again. The hardest thing I've had to do is watch her suffer. With the new meds, I hope we can stay ahead of more agitation and pain. Your opinion will help, please give it. I do want to be with her when she passes. I understand even if I'm there all the time, that one moment that I step away, she can go. PLEASE HELP! Thank you in advance. God Bless You.
My mom didn't have cancer, but she had dementia and fell, fracturing her wrist. She wouldnt/couldn't get out of bed and developed pneumonia which was treated. She began to express through facial expressions, horrible pain or anx9. Doubling her regular pain meds did nothing to alleviate.
We called hospice and the came, evaluated and stated her her on a low dose of morphine and the next day added Ativan. She had stopped eating even the ices we brought her the day before.
Her facial expressions and breathing eased and she passed peacefully two days later.
Get another hospice group in.
The Hospice Patients Alliance website has a wealth of information about these things and how you can protect yourself and loved ones.