Posted on 09/30/2012 3:19:54 PM PDT by Brian Kopp DPM
Heheh....you fell for the gag on humblegunners home page! Look very close again...he isn’t banned!
Good post.
Some of you might want to consider my beloved husband, who suffered from Parkinson’s (probably Parkinson’s Plus) - a neurodegenerative illness.
We sought out the best neuros, took him to the Mayo clinic, did everything we could. No-one could find a way to treat his horrible symptoms, which were depriving him of any kind of normal life. Constant flushing, panic attacks, inability to control his muscles to stand, sit, walk, and eliminate normally made him miserable. There were several unpleasant hospital visits, with rehab visits after.
These were demoralizing to him, and scheduling meals and meds were so difficult. He continued to decline, and asked me never to put him in either the hospital or a rehab center again. We were married for 45 years, and dearly loved each other. I brought him back to our senior living complex, and continued to do my best to give him 24/7 care.
Eventually, he stopped eating and drinking, no matter how hard I tried to make his favorite meals, get his favorite drinks.
I decided to call Hospice, who promptly brought in a hospital bed, halter lift, etc. for him, and then provided nurses and strong men to help him move, to change his diapers. I wasn’t strong enough to move him, change him, change his position, change his sheets, etc.
Hospice provided the minimum dosage of morphine to help with his muscle spasms, and these were a blessing. (Cancer patients got 20 times the dose given to him to relieve their pain)
I was hoping, and so were the hospice nurses, that we could give him at least 6 months more to enjoy our grandchildren, and maybe even more than that - because many times Hospice patients actually improve given their considerate care.
But, it was not to be. Three weeks after Hospice came to our apartment, my beloved husband quietly and peacefully died, not in a hospital or nursing home, but in his own living room, with me at his side.
I am lost without him. The only happiness I can find - is in his quiet and peaceful death with his belongings around him, his favorite music playing, and me holding his hand.
These are just words on a page. I do not ask for sympathy, but request that you all consider that “there does come a time, when less is more”.
To my beloved Tony Joy, may God bless you and keep you, until we meet again.
As for that, I have reported above the reactions of hospice patients themselves, whom I have known very well. Whether you know it or like it or not is irrelevant. Many of the people I have seen consider it a sign of the beginning of the end game, and they don't want to play. That's their reaction not mine. If that be ignorant I plead guilty.
It’s ten months since I lost my husband of 55 yrs and reading this brings it all back. He was taken to the hospital with trouble breathing...they had to shock him three times to bring him back but finally he came around....was placed on ventilator for a few days. He came off of it pretty good and seemed that he might surprise everyone and make it....they jokingly called him the miracle man. He progressed to where they took him out of ICU and put on cardiac floor although his heart appeared pretty good. One day spent there and I arrive one morning to find him struggling to breathe..rang for nurse..she comes running and they call in the emergency team from ICU that floats around.....anyway back to ICU...back on ventilator for couple of days. They take him off of this and determine he needs a bi-pap machine to help breathing...okay with that...no big deal. Well his kidneys start acting up so they put port in and do dialysis a few times and determine that helped with breathing etc.
All of a sudden the nurses are taking myself and family into a room and telling me that three doctors have determined that he is too weak to make it and if he does go home it would be to hospice etc...I say okay...understand. Well, then they go into this speal of perhaps I needed to take a look at his quality of life and is this what he would want (an no he hadn’t filled out any paperwork on his wishes) So we talk to his cardio doc of 13 yrs and he tells us he thinks we need to let him go now and that it would be pain free and he wouldn’t suffer....anguish time and didn’t know what to do so decided to rely on the doctors etc....so they proceeded to take him off the bi-pap and tell me they will start a morphine drip. I ask why ..he’s in no pain...they say...don’t worry this is just to make him comfortable. I tell the nurse that I’m getting family so they can talk to him and leave the room....he is alert at this time....I returned a few minutes later and he is out cold and I immediately ask what happened and the nurse says well I gave him the morphine....he never awakened...none of us had a chance to talk to him....I held his hand until the morning when he just stopped breathing....to this day I feel like I let them kill him......I’m relaying this just to let you know that we all need to have a better understanding of just what is going on with our medical care....when one has spent three weeks in ICU with the ups and downs of problems it’s very difficult to be at a place where you are fully aware of what is going on..what they are talking about and just what it all means.....sorry this is so long......................
"Unwanted" by whom? The only folks I can think of who don't WANT these folks to have treatment are the ones who want to save a buck and have them die off quickly.
The morphine in that case would now be contra-indicated. My dad went through the same thing. The reason for the morphine was to make the heart attacks easier to endure. When your kidneys start to fail, it causes heart attacks. Morphine cannot be properly metabolized in the kidneys-so it becomes less effective. Another type of pain killer would have made it easier. But, I learned that last week when my uncle was in his last hours.
Having been there when my Dad went through it, I can sympathize with your experience—and it is horrible.
But it shows the necessity to talk about this stuff when we are healthy and understand what we are doing. In the heat of the moment, there is so much going on that we become inundated with opinions and options. You simply cannot make make good decisions. Or at least you cannot be sure they are good decisions.
End of life conversations in forums like this are difficult because everyone is emotionally invested in their stories. And there are a lot of people to whom the medical world is a mystery. And there are a lot of people who actually think the nurses and doctors give a hoot what their accountants say.
It is also difficult because our bodies can be going along just fine—and them you have a stroke, heart attack or aggressive cancer. And you get so swept up in the processes you are just dazed.
Tell everyone you know your story. Then tell them to talk to their families about what they want when the time comes.
If you (not YOU, but the generic public) are not willing to face your mortality, someone else is going to make that call for you.
And, as far as hospice goes— go through a Catholic hospice and you will be sure that their palliative care is in alignment with the Catholic church’s guidance.
The morphine in that case would now be contra-indicated. My dad went through the same thing. The reason for the morphine was to make the heart attacks easier to endure. When your kidneys start to fail, it causes heart attacks. Morphine cannot be properly metabolized in the kidneys-so it becomes less effective. Another type of pain killer would have made it easier. But, I learned that last week when my uncle was in his last hours.
Having been there when my Dad went through it, I can sympathize with your experience—and it is horrible.
But it shows the necessity to talk about this stuff when we are healthy and understand what we are doing. In the heat of the moment, there is so much going on that we become inundated with opinions and options. You simply cannot make make good decisions. Or at least you cannot be sure they are good decisions.
End of life conversations in forums like this are difficult because everyone is emotionally invested in their stories. And there are a lot of people to whom the medical world is a mystery. And there are a lot of people who actually think the nurses and doctors give a hoot what their accountants say.
It is also difficult because our bodies can be going along just fine—and them you have a stroke, heart attack or aggressive cancer. And you get so swept up in the processes you are just dazed.
Tell everyone you know your story. Then tell them to talk to their families about what they want when the time comes.
If you (not YOU, but the generic public) are not willing to face your mortality, someone else is going to make that call for you.
And, as far as hospice goes— go through a Catholic hospice and you will be sure that their palliative care is in alignment with the Catholic church’s guidance.
For whatever it matters to anyone reading this thread, we went through a Catholic hospice, and they were wonderful.
Every patient has different needs. A very small dose of morphine (10 mgs, if I remember right) helped my husband with his pain so much.
And, I was taught when to give it, and when not to give it.
It was only for pain control, and when his pain was under control, do not give it. He got little tablets that I put under his tongue to melt, with a strict schedule to be followed. Once his pain was controlled, I was to ease off until it built up again.
It was a blessing to his pain. I could see the small muscles on his face relax, and see him at peace. Catholic Hospice taught me to recognize the signs of pain, and asked me to chart every 10 mg dose, after being with him, and getting his suffering under control.
God, please bless them for helping me to relieve his agony. (St. Croix, Minneapolis, Minnesota)
I think it is important for the family to be involved and well informed. We worked with hospice for a couple of weeks toward the end of my Dad’s life. They were very helpful and informative.
Dad was dying from terminal bone cancer and we were able to keep him comfortable. He was alert until the last day of his life.
Palliative care can be an excuse for snowing the patient until they quietly die, but it doesn’t have to be. Heaven help those who have no family or friends to watch over them in these days of “reducing health care costs”.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
This is a Must Read article. Everyone concerned about not being starved/dehydrated to death, or your friends and loved ones not being starved/dehydrated to death, or concerned that our country is turning into a "Kill the Useless Eaters" dystopia, should read every word of this article. I notice that some moral cretin/s have made sure this thread is now in the Smokey Backroom. I wonder why this thread is a target.
So why did it get put in the SB? It wasn’t placed there originally. It’s not SB material. Why not just delete the inappropriate comments?
Mascot.
Sick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.