11-20-2015, 05:41 PM
I want to thank you folks who have chimed in on my queries for health care info over the last year or more (less?). Many of your comments became useful to our family as we navigated the unknowns of trying to keep our Mom at home during the end of her life..we did it to the very end.
Lost my Mom on Thursday at 12:37 am in a Hospice facility associated with RUSH hospital. It was a sad but incredibly beautiful night where got to spend 3 hours with her after she passed away..made possible by the idea of Hospice care.
After a brutal 2 months where my Mom was being bounced from place to place due to circumstances which I will not go into but were beyond our control she ended up in the Hospice facility at Rush and found immediate peace. She excersised her free will all through this process through a haze of dementia this woman knew what she wanted and what she didn't want. I was blown away by her at every step.
I'm writing this to raise up the Hospice system. These people were amazing, every single one of them. It gave us strength, perspective and an understanding of the dying process. My Mom was comfortable, responsive and at peace through this. This was the most important series of moments in my life, flat out. I'm better for it and certainly my Mom is too..it immediately restored the dignity and grace that she has displayed throughout her entire life..
Though, she never lost those attributes during the most grueling parts of this deal, the hospital tours
..She ripped out three feeding tubes and a whole series of IV's, not to mention the bit's of tape that were tugging at her tracing paper skin.
After the last "procedure", She grabbed my hands and pulled me close and yelled..yelled "get all this $hit OFF OF ME!!"...and through a glaze of tears and laughter I helped her remove everything..When we were done? A scheduled blood draw came into the room and when the blood person grabbed her hand she yanked it away from her..I put a stop on it and went to the Nurse's station and told them to cease with the blood draws..My Mom was at 83 lbs..her normal weight was around 135. There is a time to cut the crap and my Mom called it. I could see an immediate difference in her attitude after this.
She was in Hospice a couple of days later..As the morphine and haldol helped to alleviate her body stress..that energy devoted to stress was re-realized in a productive force and her body healed the bruises that were all over her arms and body..In three days her skin was becoming normal..even glowing..by the time she passed away she was settled and beautiful.
Peace in a crazy fuckin world, people.
Lost my Mom on Thursday at 12:37 am in a Hospice facility associated with RUSH hospital. It was a sad but incredibly beautiful night where got to spend 3 hours with her after she passed away..made possible by the idea of Hospice care.
After a brutal 2 months where my Mom was being bounced from place to place due to circumstances which I will not go into but were beyond our control she ended up in the Hospice facility at Rush and found immediate peace. She excersised her free will all through this process through a haze of dementia this woman knew what she wanted and what she didn't want. I was blown away by her at every step.
I'm writing this to raise up the Hospice system. These people were amazing, every single one of them. It gave us strength, perspective and an understanding of the dying process. My Mom was comfortable, responsive and at peace through this. This was the most important series of moments in my life, flat out. I'm better for it and certainly my Mom is too..it immediately restored the dignity and grace that she has displayed throughout her entire life..
Though, she never lost those attributes during the most grueling parts of this deal, the hospital tours
..She ripped out three feeding tubes and a whole series of IV's, not to mention the bit's of tape that were tugging at her tracing paper skin.
After the last "procedure", She grabbed my hands and pulled me close and yelled..yelled "get all this $hit OFF OF ME!!"...and through a glaze of tears and laughter I helped her remove everything..When we were done? A scheduled blood draw came into the room and when the blood person grabbed her hand she yanked it away from her..I put a stop on it and went to the Nurse's station and told them to cease with the blood draws..My Mom was at 83 lbs..her normal weight was around 135. There is a time to cut the crap and my Mom called it. I could see an immediate difference in her attitude after this.
She was in Hospice a couple of days later..As the morphine and haldol helped to alleviate her body stress..that energy devoted to stress was re-realized in a productive force and her body healed the bruises that were all over her arms and body..In three days her skin was becoming normal..even glowing..by the time she passed away she was settled and beautiful.
Peace in a crazy fuckin world, people.