My Mother has been on Palliative care for two and a half years.
She was in an independent living apartment and was waiting for the elevator doors to open when the maintenance guy (with coke bottle glasses and buck teeth) came barging out with a dead refrigerator. She was startled and fell, fracturing three of her ribs. She did not want to go to ER, so I didn't take her. I should have in hindsight. About a week later, I could tell she was hurting and took her to ER where they admitted her and then sent her to rehab. Rehab was very bad and they ended up sending her to ER after a couple weeks. She had a Pulmonary edema, which is fluid in the lung and outside the lung. They somehow got the fluid drained out and sent her back to rehab where she ended up with covid and I couldn't see her for 14 days. The covid cleared but the nurse practitioner said it was time to put her on hospice, I agreed because I didn't know anything and trusted the nurse. A day later I visited her and she was howling and staring at the corner of the ceiling. I asked the aide what she had given her and she said a little ativan and haldol with a small dose of morphine. I called hospice and cancelled, called the social worker at rehab and said I'm taking her home.
The social worker set up everything; the 60 days of in-home care from OT and PT was excellent. We had a zoom call with her regular doctor and she put her on Palliative care. It was 3 months of hardcore caregiving before she started to improve and become more independent. A nurse from Palliative care visits my mom every month. She checks her lungs, heart, blood pressure and massages her hands and feet with lavender oil. The nurse is very kind and stays for about an hour to chat with her. A spiritual person called and wanted to visit, but my mom wasn't interested.
I would say she is about 90% back to where she was before she fractured her ribs. She will be 96 in July and does not have dementia.
Here's a link that discusses the differences between palliative care and hospice: https://www.caringinfo.org/types-of-care/what-is-the-difference-between-palliative-care-and-hospice-care/ Palliative care is a resource for anyone living with a serious illness, such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and many others. Palliative care focuses on improving quality of life and helping with symptoms, and can also help patients understand their choices for medical treatment. The organized services available through palliative care may be helpful to any older person having a lot of general discomfort and disability late in life. A palliative care team is made up of multiple different professionals that work with the patient, family, and the patient's other doctors to provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support. They can help coordinate a person's care across multiple providers, The team is comprised of palliative care specialist doctors and nurses, and includes others such as social workers, nutritionists, and chaplains. Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance policies may cover palliative care. Veterans may be eligible for palliative care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Private health insurance might pay for some services. Health insurance providers can answer questions about what they will cover.
What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care? | National Institute on Aging (nih.gov) Sandy, palliative care is a new specialty, and NIH.gov can tell you the best and easiest description. Basically, if someone wishes to acknowledge that they are at the end of life, and wish to have little treatment and testing toward "cure" in their future, fewer visits to the MD, options for hospice when the 6 months or fewer are the MD's best guess for their future lifespan--this person may wish to avail themselves of a consult with a Palliative Care Specialist, and see if this is the way they wish to address medical care for their end of life. Unlike Hospice, there are still treatment options available to someone in Palliative Care treatment. They may take what treatments they feel best after discussing options, quantity of life versus quality of life, and etc. Look up a whole lot more on the internet where discussion of Palliative Care is fairly complete.
She was in an independent living apartment and was waiting for the elevator doors to open when the maintenance guy (with coke bottle glasses and buck teeth) came barging out with a dead refrigerator.
She was startled and fell, fracturing three of her ribs. She did not want to go to ER, so I didn't take her. I should have in hindsight.
About a week later, I could tell she was hurting and took her to ER where they admitted her and then sent her to rehab.
Rehab was very bad and they ended up sending her to ER after a couple weeks. She had a Pulmonary edema, which is fluid in the lung and outside the lung.
They somehow got the fluid drained out and sent her back to rehab where she ended up with covid and I couldn't see her for 14 days.
The covid cleared but the nurse practitioner said it was time to put her on hospice, I agreed because I didn't know anything and trusted the nurse.
A day later I visited her and she was howling and staring at the corner of the ceiling.
I asked the aide what she had given her and she said a little ativan and haldol with a small dose of morphine. I called hospice and cancelled, called the social worker at rehab and said I'm taking her home.
The social worker set up everything; the 60 days of in-home care from OT and PT was excellent.
We had a zoom call with her regular doctor and she put her on Palliative care.
It was 3 months of hardcore caregiving before she started to improve and become more independent.
A nurse from Palliative care visits my mom every month. She checks her lungs, heart, blood pressure and massages her hands and feet with lavender oil.
The nurse is very kind and stays for about an hour to chat with her.
A spiritual person called and wanted to visit, but my mom wasn't interested.
I would say she is about 90% back to where she was before she fractured her ribs.
She will be 96 in July and does not have dementia.
https://www.caringinfo.org/types-of-care/what-is-the-difference-between-palliative-care-and-hospice-care/
Palliative care is a resource for anyone living with a serious illness, such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and many others. Palliative care focuses on improving quality of life and helping with symptoms, and can also help patients understand their choices for medical treatment. The organized services available through palliative care may be helpful to any older person having a lot of general discomfort and disability late in life.
A palliative care team is made up of multiple different professionals that work with the patient, family, and the patient's other doctors to provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support. They can help coordinate a person's care across multiple providers, The team is comprised of palliative care specialist doctors and nurses, and includes others such as social workers, nutritionists, and chaplains.
Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance policies may cover palliative care. Veterans may be eligible for palliative care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Private health insurance might pay for some services. Health insurance providers can answer questions about what they will cover.
Sandy, palliative care is a new specialty, and NIH.gov can tell you the best and easiest description. Basically, if someone wishes to acknowledge that they are at the end of life, and wish to have little treatment and testing toward "cure" in their future, fewer visits to the MD, options for hospice when the 6 months or fewer are the MD's best guess for their future lifespan--this person may wish to avail themselves of a consult with a Palliative Care Specialist, and see if this is the way they wish to address medical care for their end of life.
Unlike Hospice, there are still treatment options available to someone in Palliative Care treatment. They may take what treatments they feel best after discussing options, quantity of life versus quality of life, and etc.
Look up a whole lot more on the internet where discussion of Palliative Care is fairly complete.