Hospice Relief

This morning, we took the next step in handling my dad’s condition. A hospice representative came by and, after an evaluation and interview, agreed to admit my father into the program. He’s not currently at death’s door, that comes later, but for now he clearly has deteriorated where it was clear that we needed the help that hospice care can provide.

This is going to be an interesting adjustment. My mom (and dad…when his mind was intact) is a very private and independent old bird. I’m not sure that she’s going to easily take to having people—strangers–coming in most days of the week. Admittedly, it will only be for periods of under an hour, but change is change, and she isn’t the biggest fan of change.

Even so, I think this was the best option for us. Not only do we have a medical team available to us on-call 24/7 as the need arises, but we get some of the daily and equipment care and information, that we’ve been increasingly in need of. One aspect, the IPU, would allow us a handful of days a month to drop off my dad at a temporary care facility so we can relieve some of our own on-going stress issues. My mom’s not yet embracing that option, but I think she will, in time.

So…now that we’ve signed up for hospice, I think it’s fair to say that my dad is now in the home-stretch of his death process. For me, I’m happy that we’re no longer just flopping around like beached fish not knowing where the water is. I think the lack of information was one of the things stressing me out most of all.

I need to mention one funny moment. As at the doctor’s office a couple days earlier, I did the lion’s share of talking. Those of you who know me well know that I thrive in situations when I can do brain-dumps of information. In these cases, that means I get to use the big-fancy medical jargon that I’ve acquired over the years. So, after a bit of this, the hospice worker asks me if I have a background in medicine. I — never one to let an opportunity for humor pass me by — replied, "No. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night."

Laughs were had as everyone recognized that tag from the Holiday Inn commercials. It’s good to laugh.