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ShellyRenee

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Mom was diagnosed at the end of May and her doctor is recommending Hospice to come in. Mainly for the "suction device". From what I understand this is to suck out the secretions when she is choking. She told me tonight she REALLY don't want to do this. I think (key word: think) she is afraid to stick anything in her throat. I tried to reassure her that by doing this it would get better (more comfortable) w/ practice. Any advice on this "suction device"?
Tonight we went out to dinner, early because less of a crowd (for her), after her meal she treated herself to an after dinner drink which turned out to be a disaster. Not for me but her. She took one sip and instantly a coughing spell started and out came the sip. She was very embarrassed but all she said was "lets go". We respected her and left. There was no one who witnessed this but us and that was enough for her. The dinner club we went to my parents are well known but no one will talk about "whats wrong". They must be scared and she is not about to discuss this. As we were leaving dad spoke with the waitress, I'm sure he was probally telling her real quick "whats wrong". I seen the look on the waitress' face as OH NO. My dad will fill her in I'm sure. These people all care about her but I think she looks at this as being embarrassing.
Hospice will be out tomorrow morning, any heads up or questions anyone can think of would be greatly apperciated.

Take care and thank you all for being OUT THERE
 
dear shelly,

how did the hospice visit go for your mom. it is so understandable that your mom was embarassed by her choking episode. i have been embarrased myself, losing control of normal daily functions can be upsetting. with time and experience, she willbe more familiar with what she can eat and drink safely. its amazing how we take so much for granted until we dont have them.keep us u
 
Good morning,

Just a quick update on my moms Hospice appointment. Things went better than expected if I can say that. I guess I was expecting the worse. The people were kind and considerate of moms feelings. They did not rush or push a thing. For my mom it's always good to suggest something and tell her why but then give her some time to think about it. I can respect that, she needs to still feel in control.
Hospice felt that mom did not need the "suction device" due to the secretions are down too far in her throat. They said she still would need to bring up the secretions before the suction device would do any good. If she would try to suction them out when it's that far down would more than likely bring her to vomit. Hospices recommendation was to take some medication for the secretions. Mom has since started taking the medication but she feels she has more drainage. Looser but more which seems to bring on more coughing episodes. I'm afraid there is no winning with this battle.
I was happy to hear mom say she was interested in doing the feeing tube. She is getting too thin. Her pants are literally falling off of her. I mention to her that she might want to try a belt but she said she is not able to get a belt off soon enough when she has to use the restroom.
We TRY to keep a positive outlook on this but it's hard some days.

Have a good day. :roll:
Shelly
 
Hi Shelly:

Nice that your mom's experience with the hospice care was positive. It will help with future treatment suggestions.

My wife used to choke a bit on her drinks as well although she was striken with limb onset and her swallowing didn't become an issue until much later on. Even with a feeding tube installed, we managed to get a glass or two of wine into her on a daily basis. It wan't often pretty, but our friends were more appreciative of her being there with them and less interested in how much wine she was getting into her ... and how much she was wearing! (can't say the same for the nurses who were appalled that she was drinking wine while on amitryptylene)

One technique that we used was to keep her chin down when she swallowed, to help it go down the right pipe. To that end, I sacrificed a few wine glasses by grinding down a notch in the glass to fit her nose. That way she could tip the glass enough to get a sip without her nose getting int he way. It worked like a charm!

I'd write more but am depressed as my Packers went down to defeat yesterday... thank god it wasn't to the Bears.

CHeers

T.
 
They would crap their pants if they saw me washing my amitryptylene down most nights with a glass of wine I guess. Don't recall anyone saying that was a no no.
Cheer up the season is young. Some teams are late starters. Like Buffalo.
Good idea about the notch in the glass.
 
... the VON were concerned that the combination of alcohol and amytriptylene would incapaciatate her. I had to explain to them that she was no longer operating heavy equipment and had given up her truck driving license. It was the only time that Mary fell out of her chair laughing (okay it was one of the times). Small wonder that we had difficulty getting the VON to visit after that.

Grinding the glass was a delilcate process... she stopped me from trying it with the crystal... apparently there are some limits to her sense of humour.

T.
 
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