So my mother is in the "transition" phase of hospice. She was experiencing very labored breathing several weeks ago. Over a week ago she was sleeping all the time and blurting out names and saying she was ready to go.
I visited today and she was completely lucid. She was rarely sleeping but just relaxing. Her speaking was much less strained and she was saying she was uncomfortable. She even asked for an omelette so I had the nurse's station order one.
This is all new to me. My mother is 89. Her father was 98 when he died, but he was fed through a feeding tube. My mother drinks occasional sips of water and very little food. Is she just going to linger in this state for years? My heart breaks each time I see her in this condition.
My mom was frail, totally physically dependent and mostly non verbal, (no more than one or two word answers to direct questions) and in the week before she died I arrived at the nursing home to be told she was "talking up a storm!". She was reaching out, asking for her glasses (she had macular degeneration and had given up wearing them years before), wanting to get up and get going....
Then she was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and put on antibiotics, I got a call in the night that they couldn't get her oxygen levels up and did I want to transport her to hospital? (no), and she died 3 days later 😕.