Guest guest Posted March 2, 1999 Report Share Posted March 2, 1999 Dee, We didn't use a hospice facility. They came to the nursing home for frequent visits and visited my father in law at home and called him often. Actually, most patients are not in a hospice facility so hospice is fully capable of giving assistance at home, in nursing homes or hospitals. Vicki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2002 Report Share Posted April 23, 2002 Ann: As Most of you know Hospice helped us for six months and one week before Ken died. They were wonderful, and they too said there was no deadline as to how long he could be on it, only that he had to be getting worse. At the first three month check, he was actually better because all the pressure was off him and they had made so many helpful suggestions for him. So, the nurse who was evaluating him pulled the tape measure a little tighter around his thigh and said, " Oh look, it is smaller and he is getting worse, " so they will let him stay on. of course, but the next time, he was obviously worse and there was no problem. We had promised ken not to hospitalize him again, and therefore not to call 911 again. It was so helpful to have Hospice to call instead. Medicare pays Hospice for the care, and it includes everything including drugs and doctor visits. They kept ken on all his medications because none of them were intended to cure only to make him feel better. That is their criterion -- you must be only on medication for quality of life not to cure. You have made a decision that will surely make your life easier, and I do not think you will ever regret it. This is a terminal illness, and this is the one really good health benefit that our government does provide. Love, Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 23, 2002 Report Share Posted April 23, 2002 Ann: As Most of you know Hospice helped us for six months and one week before Ken died. They were wonderful, and they too said there was no deadline as to how long he could be on it, only that he had to be getting worse. At the first three month check, he was actually better because all the pressure was off him and they had made so many helpful suggestions for him. So, the nurse who was evaluating him pulled the tape measure a little tighter around his thigh and said, " Oh look, it is smaller and he is getting worse, " so they will let him stay on. of course, but the next time, he was obviously worse and there was no problem. We had promised ken not to hospitalize him again, and therefore not to call 911 again. It was so helpful to have Hospice to call instead. Medicare pays Hospice for the care, and it includes everything including drugs and doctor visits. They kept ken on all his medications because none of them were intended to cure only to make him feel better. That is their criterion -- you must be only on medication for quality of life not to cure. You have made a decision that will surely make your life easier, and I do not think you will ever regret it. This is a terminal illness, and this is the one really good health benefit that our government does provide. Love, Barbara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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