Another Look At Hospice
I’ve had a fist hand look into hospice and want to change my opinion from my last post about the subject.
My father is laying here with me right now in a hospital bed which was just put in his living room.
He is out of it, with the severe pain, the morphine, and the vicadin I am giving him. He’s with it enough to know it still hurts and that it’s me he’s yelling at for making him move and take the medicine.
He was let go from the hospital while he could still speak rather easily and eat a little. Now he cannot eat anything and hasn’t. He is severly (in my opinion) dehydrated. His lips are cracking badly, and try as we might we cannot turn him over so that he doesn’t get bedsores.
Hospice is only coming for a short visit twice a week. We are unable to take care of such a sick man. I’m going to find out tomarrow when the nurse comes about upping his dosages of pain meds and getting him an IV to at least keep him hydrated.
I know hospitals are overcrowded, but how can they send someone in his condititon home like this? He needs real medical care so he can have an IV,and be turned every two hours. He’s been combative with us, and my sister and I are almost at wits ends. I am measuring out morphine, watching oxygen, and trying to make him as comfortable as possible and he is fighting me the whole way. I thought that hospice was going to help, but how can they help when their not here?
I believe my mother said she would have to pay out of pocket for a hospice nurse to be here almost all the time, and she can’t afford it. So am I to watch him dehydrate and starve to death in severe pain? I don’t think he should be home like this. We’re doing the best we can but it’s beyond difficult.
Hospice
I was very surprised to find out that hospice was first start in about 1967. It seems like it would have been something that should have been in place for a lot longer.
It took a little convincing but my father agreed to have hospice come in. Right now they are only coming to his house for visits twice a week. They evaluated him for it last week, however he has drastically gone downhill since then. I visited him yesterday and he is so weak and frail he can’t even stand. They have him on morphine for the pain and are trying to find something to give him so he can eat, he can’t hold anything down. He’s got sleeping pills so he is finally getting a little sleep. The family has been gathering there to help and to help him tie up loose ends. It’s difficult to see him dying like he is. The doctors give him at most 5 months, but in his present condition I doubt we’ll have him for another 5 weeks. It is my hope to have hospice reevaluate his condition and be there for 8 hour shifts. He’s also on oxygen now and needs more medical aide.
I thank hospice for what they are doing, and for helping all of us to let him go with as much dignity a person can have in this condition.
Update
Sorry for the silence this past week. We lost our modem and had to switch services, we’ve just been hooked back up this morning.
My father had a CAT Scan and they rushed him up the waiting list for the colonoscopy. My parents tell me he’s got a mass in the colon and cancer cells in three of his organs. My sister, however had a chance to sneak a peek at his doctors report and tells me he’s got cancer throughout his entire body. All his major organs have tumors and he’s so weak he can barely lift his arms. He’s waiting to see an oncologist, but I think we all know the immediate outcome of this situation.
My mothers been so sick this past year, he’s been ignoring his own aches, pains, and fatigue, and now it’s seems it’s probably too late.
We’re talking about what’s to be done upon his death and planning his funeral, per his insistance. Nothing has been harder.
I appreciate the fact that they got him in for the colonoscopy early, but the subject now seems moot.
Nursing Homes and Violations
An average nursing home got 7 violations, studies indicate, with 94% of for profit homes likely to get them, 91% of government run homes, and 88% of non for profit homes.
Homes that accept medicare and medicaid are surveyed every 12 to 15 months and have shown these results.
They are not surprising however. Non for profit homes are usually the best choice because they do what they do for the residents and no other reason. For profit homes are businesses and skimp on as much as possible to increase their profits. The most crucial thing they skimp on is staff. By skimping on the number of Cna’s to residents they save themselves money but cut down on care. By skimping on the Cna’s salary they are skimpimg on quality of Cna’s. That has a lot to do with some of the care violations these homes are getting.
The states themselves set the standards at a minimum amount of staff to residents, and that’s what the for profit homes follow. If the states lowered the amount of residents per Cna they would all get better care.
Infection Control
I’ve been running across a few people lately who have had hospital stays and have been discharged with a case of Mrsa. Mrsa is the “superbug” that laughs at antibiotics. Mrsa comes in different forms but in all its forms it is a bad bug to get.
You would think that the hospital would be the cleanest and most sterile, however I believe it’s probably one of the dirtiest, germ infested places you can find. They have it in their power to kill those germs so that no one would leave the hospital sick.
I read in a recent article that over 60% of doctors admit to not properly washing their hands. If that is the doctors habits can you imagine the rest of the hospital staff?
What about more regular cleaning with bleach or something that kills germs? I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m sure if they wanted to they could make hospitals cleaner safer places.
Seniors Stop Medicine When Donut Hole Hits
Under Medicare, people had to pay for their own medication after Medicare paid $2400. Then seniors had to pay the next $3850 from their own money and once they have paid out that amount the Medicare coverage kicked in again. The out of pocket is what’s referred to as the donut hole.
What ended up happening 15% of these people stopped their medication, 5% switched medications, and 1% cut down on their medicine.
This donut hole was made so the government could save some money, but when people stop taking their medicine they tend to get sicker and require even more hospital care. In the long run it seems the donut hole may end up costing more than it’s saving.
Maybe they need to rethink the structure of this medication coverage so people will actually be able to maintain health and stay out of doctors offices and hospitals. Just a thought.
Why We Shouldn’t Detect Cancer Early
I am reading this article from the New York Times and I am blown away by what I’m seeing. I always was told and believed that detecting cancer early was a good thing so that treatment could be given before the cancer becomes so advanced as to metastasize and kill its victim.
Unless I am not understanding correctly, this article seems to be saying that some doctors and a government committee feel that some cancers can live and grow in the body, but if you are older you will probably die of something else before the cancer really becomes a health concern for you.
It further seems to say that by detecting it early you would undergo treatments that would prove to be unnecessary because you’re going to die soon anyway. WHAT?
I don’t know about anyone else but I do not want cancerous tumors anywhere in my body whether they are causing me pain or not. These doctors seem to be saying that they are affecting the quality of life by treating and testing the cancer, rather than the cancer affecting the quality of life.
Of course I have to ask once again where do the insurance companies and money fit in to all this. After all look at how much can be saved if we just all forget about testing high risk groups of people for cancer, and even more money can be saved by ignoring it and not offering treatment.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like I woke up on the wrong planet. See the whole article here and throw me a comment, I’d love to know what you think about all this.
New Jersey Elders Getting The Shaft?
New Jersey Assisted Living Facilities are under investigation after it was found that several residents of these homes have been “kicked to the curb” after their saving ran out.
Seniors and their families are being told that once the seniors savings run out to pay for their stay, that medicaid will kick in and take care of it without interruption of residence. However in one home the resident and her family were told that the home had changed owners and policy and that they no longer accepted medicaid. In this instance the woman’s family fought it and she got to stay, but as her daughter points out, there are many seniors who do not have family or friends to stand up for them, and they will be turned out on the street or to who knows where.
New Jersey officials are investigating to see how big and widespread a problem this is and hopefully will have a solution for those who need to be looked after.
Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s
The French have concluded a study on men and women who had mild cognitive impairment and them examined them two years later and then again four years later.
Those that suffered from depression, or taking anticholinergic drugs were more likely to go on to develop dementia.
It was also discovered that men and women have different risk factors. Men who have had a stroke were almost three times more likely to progress to dementia. Women who suffered from depression were two times as likely to get dementia.
Not all the people in the study went on to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. There was a small percentage that recovered to normal cognitive ability.
Tips for Fitness Training and Elderly Health
Everyone knows how important it is to be in good shape and to stay fit. However, there are things that you should keep in mind if you are in the elderly population and desire to get fit. Fitness training can be done on many different levels and with different types of activities.
Talk to your health care provider before you begin your fitness training. Find out if there are any type of activity restrictions that you should follow while fitness training. Have the health care provider write down the specifics of any activity restrictions for you in as much detail as possible. For example, instead of light lifting have the provider write down how much you can lift and your weight lift maximum.
Find a fitness center that has trained and worked with other seniors and the elderly. You can give your list of restrictions that your health care provider wrote down to the fitness trainer. Make certain that they understand that you want to get fit but do not want unnecessary injuries or accidents.