msde302
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
- Messages
- 88
- Reason
- CALS
- Country
- US
- State
- MN
- City
- St. Paul
I think my mom is nearing the end of her struggle.
Up until last week, I was working full time as a teacher and then caring for her the rest of the time. I was lucky enough to find a young woman to be with her during the day while I was at school for the last few weeks. But by the time I would get home, she would be in so much pain (back and rear end) that she'd go directly into bed.
I've been home now 24/7 for the past week and she's gotten dramatically worse. The hospice nurse says sometimes people wait for things, and that she may have been waiting for me to be home with her.
She elected a long time ago not to get a PEG tube. For the past month or so she's been decreasing her eating. The past few days she's only had water and pepsi. I think I've mentioned this before, but she says she's not hungry, and that nothing sounds good to her. I'm lucky now if she gets 150-200 calories a day.
She panicked when the respiratory therapist brought the bi-pap back. She refused to wear it, even though her breathing has been really shallow. Then last night she was having trouble breathing and had me hold it to her face for nearly an hour (she refuses to strap it on). And again this morning she wore it. Very unusual for her.
She'd refused any Ativan or morphine. And then this past week started taking the Ativan at night. Then last night took a larger dose. And today she's had two (all within the OKed dosage). She's spent most of the past three days asleep.
Our hospice nurse said she'd talked to my mom about what would happen if she stopped eating. And she talked to my mom about taking a combo of the morphine and Ativan to help her with the breathing. She told me that my mom's breathing is markedly worse than last week.
She can't speak or move any part of her body. I think she's been ready to go for some time, but her body was holding up. I called my brother who lives in Colorado and he's flying in next week. I'm afraid to tell my mom because I'm worried she'll think I'm preparing for her to die and it will upset her.
This is much longer than I had anticipated. My whole point was to ask if someone could post that link to the site that talked about what to expect at the end of life. I feel like I need to know more about how to care for her.
THANK YOU!
Kaija
Up until last week, I was working full time as a teacher and then caring for her the rest of the time. I was lucky enough to find a young woman to be with her during the day while I was at school for the last few weeks. But by the time I would get home, she would be in so much pain (back and rear end) that she'd go directly into bed.
I've been home now 24/7 for the past week and she's gotten dramatically worse. The hospice nurse says sometimes people wait for things, and that she may have been waiting for me to be home with her.
She elected a long time ago not to get a PEG tube. For the past month or so she's been decreasing her eating. The past few days she's only had water and pepsi. I think I've mentioned this before, but she says she's not hungry, and that nothing sounds good to her. I'm lucky now if she gets 150-200 calories a day.
She panicked when the respiratory therapist brought the bi-pap back. She refused to wear it, even though her breathing has been really shallow. Then last night she was having trouble breathing and had me hold it to her face for nearly an hour (she refuses to strap it on). And again this morning she wore it. Very unusual for her.
She'd refused any Ativan or morphine. And then this past week started taking the Ativan at night. Then last night took a larger dose. And today she's had two (all within the OKed dosage). She's spent most of the past three days asleep.
Our hospice nurse said she'd talked to my mom about what would happen if she stopped eating. And she talked to my mom about taking a combo of the morphine and Ativan to help her with the breathing. She told me that my mom's breathing is markedly worse than last week.
She can't speak or move any part of her body. I think she's been ready to go for some time, but her body was holding up. I called my brother who lives in Colorado and he's flying in next week. I'm afraid to tell my mom because I'm worried she'll think I'm preparing for her to die and it will upset her.
This is much longer than I had anticipated. My whole point was to ask if someone could post that link to the site that talked about what to expect at the end of life. I feel like I need to know more about how to care for her.
THANK YOU!
Kaija