This is a sound and well-informed article. Atul Gawande's book, "Being Mortal: Illness, Medicine, and What Matters in the End" (Profile Books, 2015) is also helpful.
My wife of 58 years died last month after 12 years with "mixed dementia"--a combination of Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. We thought she was dying in August 2018 but she rallied, and lived calmly for another 2 3/4 years. She was friendly and communicative until a week before she died; and then died peacefully in her sleep.
She slept a lot for the past three years--12 to 13 hours a night, with naps in the morning and afternoon, making 18 to 19 hours out of 24 devoted to sleep. Some research studies have indicated that this gives people with dementia the ability to minimize the effects of (but not remove) the plaques and tangles in the brain from amyloid and tau deposits.
At the end, she stopped eating and was unable to swallow, but it was not a painful death. She was given a small dose of morphine (to alleviate pain) on the Friday morning and died on Sunday morning.
Death is a part of life--tough to understand and accept, but still a reality.
Love and prayer are important both for the patient and the caregivers and family.
My mom went in and out of most of these end of life "signs" for 20 months. It was exhausting. No two people are alike, nor can one say exactly how many days or hours before death these things occur, as say so many lists hospices have for reference. It got to the point where I didn't believe any of these symptoms were truly end of life after 20 months and took them with a grain of salt. She bounced back countless times. I am glad my mom had a wonderful hospice team.
If possible, try to plan visits and activities for times when your loved one is most alert. It is important to speak directly to them and talk as if they can hear, even if they are not responsive. Decreased Socialization and Withdrawal and the paragraph. My wife of 48 years was in a memory care unit. March 16 was the last day I had contact with her. It was a good day. The virus took all of the things above away. She died April 11th by herself in a room where she could not leave or people visit. I got a call that she was dying. I got there in 10 minutes which was too late.
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End-of-Life Care: Signs That Death Is Near
My wife of 58 years died last month after 12 years with "mixed dementia"--a combination of Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. We thought she was dying in August 2018 but she rallied, and lived calmly for another 2 3/4 years. She was friendly and communicative until a week before she died; and then died peacefully in her sleep.
She slept a lot for the past three years--12 to 13 hours a night, with naps in the morning and afternoon, making 18 to 19 hours out of 24 devoted to sleep. Some research studies have indicated that this gives people with dementia the ability to minimize the effects of (but not remove) the plaques and tangles in the brain from amyloid and tau deposits.
At the end, she stopped eating and was unable to swallow, but it was not a painful death. She was given a small dose of morphine (to alleviate pain) on the Friday morning and died on Sunday morning.
Death is a part of life--tough to understand and accept, but still a reality.
Love and prayer are important both for the patient and the caregivers and family.
If possible, try to plan visits and activities for times when your loved one is most alert. It is important to speak directly to them and talk as if they can hear, even if they are not responsive.
Decreased Socialization and Withdrawal and the paragraph.
My wife of 48 years was in a memory care unit. March 16 was the last day I had contact with her. It was a good day. The virus took all of the things above away. She died April 11th by herself in a room where she could not leave or people visit. I got a call that she was dying. I got there in 10 minutes which was too late.