When my father's primary care doctor recommended that he be evaluated by a psychiatrist, my father refused to go, and his doctor relented and let him have his way. So now we, the family, are left to deal with my father's unpredictable angry, irrational outbursts.....our nerves are often frayed when we are around him, and we are less effective caregivers because of it. Proper medication could have relieved this situation a great deal, I suspect.

Hospice has just stopped at home services for my Mom stating no significant decline in status. We now have care for her 24/7, paying out of her pocket. Her oncologist is amazed that she has survived this long. My appeal was denied even after I stated that the reporting nurse is relatively new to our case & only sees Mom for 20 min. twice a week, so how can she know about the need to use a wheelchair often to get her around the house. Mother is usually alert while the RN is there as she likes the company. We tried having home health aides come in, but they were scheduled at odd, irregular times & rarely was it the same person which upset Mom, so we stopped that service long ago. Mom is 92 & needs assistance not only with her physical needs, but also her cognitive functions when she's "off". I am so disappointed in this particular Hospice group which was taken over by a big corporation out of the area. If she's still alive in a month, I think I can apply to the other Hospice group to "come on board". I don't understand why cognitive decline doesn't qualify as a decline in her health. (outside of the fact that her multiple myeloma cancer came back last year after 5 years). Any advice? This has been a long road.