And So It Begins

We entered In Home Hospice on Monday of last week. Mom is doing just fine, but is a bit tired from having the initial visits with a supervising nurse, a social worker, a care nurse, a bathing nurse and a chaplain all in one week. We are being put on the list for a specialty nurse to come out and trim mom’s nails on her hands and feet as that can be a much greater problem for her as mobility decreases.
 
Hospice provides not only medical care and some end of life specific medicines, but it also provides useful equipment such as vinyl gloves, soaps and water barrier creams, mattress coverings and even specialized toothbrushes for her tender gums. They would have provided us with equipment, such as a wheel chair if we had not already secured one for dad in years past. We may need the hospital bed that they offer, but that’s for down the road.

All of the people who have come to help us have been very loving and gentle of spirit. The Hospice services that we are using are through Provident St Peter, a Catholic originated hospital, so there seems to be a strong faith base running through the people who have come to the house. The Chaplain is actually a Presbyterian Pastor and knows the pastors at Mom’s church. I was greatly relieved when I found out what her faith background was, as it is easier to let her minister to mom when they have a commonality of faith and beliefs. One of my caregiver’s was offended that I had questioned the chaplain about her faith training and background, but I think it is as relevant as the qualifications of the nurses and social workers involved in her care, or more so. I certainly chatted with them about their backgrounds and experience.

I am connecting with Mom’s Doctor at Madigan to find out how we coordinate the two services to see that mom continues to get the medicines she needs, but we want to eliminate any medicines that she does not still need to take. She is having a harder time swallowing the pills, even when she chews them, so what we can safely remove from her pile of pills each day we will.

Today was the first day that we could not cajole her into eating much food. She barely ate any of her breakfast, she wouldn’t eat any lunch and I had to hand fed her dinner to get half a meal down her throat. I was worried about how little she ate and I just didn’t give her any insulin tonight. I did call Hospice for guidance on the matter, another great feature of the program is on call 24/7/365 nursing support, and they agreed that I should check her sugar numbers tonight before I go to bed and if they are in a normal range then I can hold off on the insulin with such little consumption today.

 

She did have her first bout of incontinence in several weeks last night. She slept very hard today, all day. She may wake up bright eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow with all of this behind her. Sometimes she just needs a sleepy day to get her strength up and then she’s on track again. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, because, after all, tomorrow is a brand new day!