Hi Guys,
As some of you know, my mum is end stage. She has recently lost the abilty to open her mouth for spoon feeding so the CH has resorted to using a syringe to give her fluids, Ensure and milky puddings etc.
So far her urine output is good and weight loss not too bad. She is chair and bedbound and mostly mute.
My question is, are we force feeding her? There is probably no straight answer but when I was feeding her today, she quite firmly said NO! I continued nevertheless and she continued to swallow, although slowly with a lot of pouching.
I suppose my problem is that it is all so unnatural and I really don't know if mum wants it or not. I need to provide CH with a letter to say I agree to the use of the syringe as all other methods are proving fruitless. On one hand I don't want her to starve to death but on the other, she has no life, just curled up in the bed endlessly twiching.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation and how did you approach it?
Sorry for the long post but despite all the reading I do on the subject, every new phase takes me by surprise.
Thanks Guys,
Love
Jeanne.
As some of you know, my mum is end stage. She has recently lost the abilty to open her mouth for spoon feeding so the CH has resorted to using a syringe to give her fluids, Ensure and milky puddings etc.
So far her urine output is good and weight loss not too bad. She is chair and bedbound and mostly mute.
My question is, are we force feeding her? There is probably no straight answer but when I was feeding her today, she quite firmly said NO! I continued nevertheless and she continued to swallow, although slowly with a lot of pouching.
I suppose my problem is that it is all so unnatural and I really don't know if mum wants it or not. I need to provide CH with a letter to say I agree to the use of the syringe as all other methods are proving fruitless. On one hand I don't want her to starve to death but on the other, she has no life, just curled up in the bed endlessly twiching.
Has anyone else been in a similar situation and how did you approach it?
Sorry for the long post but despite all the reading I do on the subject, every new phase takes me by surprise.
Thanks Guys,
Love
Jeanne.