For the past several weeks, Mom had been complaining of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Her memory care facility did not seem to think it was too serious (Mom had Covid around Christmas time and recovery was slow.) My sister and I were concerned about her symptoms, loss of appetite and weight loss and took her to her doctor. Blood tests indicated liver abnormality and doc ordered an ultrasound. Turns out Mom has cirrhosis. The facility told us to start looking at nursing homes as they feel she won't be mobile and will require more care than they can give. Although we hate the idea of moving her, none of us children feel we can provide the care she will need in our homes. Any suggestions?
Never thought about seeing whether hospice could come to her current facility - I will have to check on that.
I would find out how serious this really is. Has her stomach already become distended? If so, this is the last stage of the desease. She may qualify for Hospice. Talk this over with the AL. Ask if you bring in Hospice would that help in keeping her there. Hospice provides depends, wipes, medication, an aide for bathing 3x a week and a nurse comes in a couple of Xs a week. Family may need to be there more often but aides from the AL can still look in on her and get her to the bathroom. This way you don't have to move Mom.
Is she a drinker? Alcohol is of course the first cause of cirrhosis--and stopping now would be indicated, but won't make a hige difference in the final outcome, UNLESS she somehow qualifies for a transplant. I won't give you false hope on that--if she is over 70, she likely won't qualify at all. There are far more patients requiring transplantation than there are donors.
Really, she can be made comfortable and that's about it. The liver is absolutely vital to life. I am sorry for this, for you and her.
You may find that you have to move to her a NH that has a smaller population, or is better versed in the care of end stage liver patients.
Ask about her B12. I have known 3 people with Cirrhosis, one received a liver transplant when she was in her 40's, the other two could not give up drinking. Actually I know of another who has cirrhosis that was not linked to drinking.
All three needed B12 shots.