I have been my Alzheimer's Disease grandma's full-time caretaker for the past seven years. The past few months she has started sleeping more, less eating, drinking, and Recurring UTI Infection. When should hospice care be started?
I’m so sorry that this is your first post, and that no-one on the site can do more than express their sympathy for your mother’s death and your own grief.
If your mother was in hospice care while in hospital, she had a terminal condition and that is why she died. Hospice made her death easier and less painful. A quick death is likely to happen if the family had not realised that the end was near, and had left calling hospice so late that a large dose of morphine was needed to stop the pain. The morphine can then hasten death, because it reduces the body’s ability to hang on to life. However without it, the patient might have lived a few hours or days more, but with very difficult pain. My mother also died quickly in similar circumstances. Yes, it came more quickly than I expected, but I am very glad that she was spared the last of her cancer pain.
Almost everyone has some regrets after a death, and has worries about ‘what if’ things had been done differently. I hope that you can grieve for your mother without bitterness, and that you can achieve the peace that she now has.
It is never so soon to contact Hospice. If she is eligible they will let you know and proceed with admitting her to Hospice. If she is not eligible for Hospice she may be eligible for Palliative Care and that will work in conjunction with her current doctors. When she does become Hospice eligible you will already have everything in place to transition from Palliative to Hospice. As long as there is a "Life Limiting Condition" As long as the person is not seeking treatment for that condition. They are most likely eligible for Hospice. (typically it was a 6 months or fewer) But as long as there is a documented, continued decline a person can remain on Hospice. )
How old is your grandmother? In general the less eating, drinking and the more sleeping is normal. While it is a sign that the end is approaching, it is not necessarily a sign that death is expected within 6 months, nor is a UTI which may be treated. However, if grandmother is in general more debilitated, do ask your doctor about Hospice. UTIs are treated during hospice and all treatments needed for comfort are done, but there would no long be a lot of diagnostics work done such as MRIs and etc. Speak with your grandmother's doctor. If she is still living 6 months after entry into Hospice program they may re-qualify her.
If your mother was in hospice care while in hospital, she had a terminal condition and that is why she died. Hospice made her death easier and less painful. A quick death is likely to happen if the family had not realised that the end was near, and had left calling hospice so late that a large dose of morphine was needed to stop the pain. The morphine can then hasten death, because it reduces the body’s ability to hang on to life. However without it, the patient might have lived a few hours or days more, but with very difficult pain. My mother also died quickly in similar circumstances. Yes, it came more quickly than I expected, but I am very glad that she was spared the last of her cancer pain.
Almost everyone has some regrets after a death, and has worries about ‘what if’ things had been done differently. I hope that you can grieve for your mother without bitterness, and that you can achieve the peace that she now has.
If she is eligible they will let you know and proceed with admitting her to Hospice.
If she is not eligible for Hospice she may be eligible for Palliative Care and that will work in conjunction with her current doctors. When she does become Hospice eligible you will already have everything in place to transition from Palliative to Hospice.
As long as there is a "Life Limiting Condition"
As long as the person is not seeking treatment for that condition.
They are most likely eligible for Hospice. (typically it was a 6 months or fewer) But as long as there is a documented, continued decline a person can remain on Hospice. )
Speak with your grandmother's doctor. If she is still living 6 months after entry into Hospice program they may re-qualify her.