End of life care

[blackchilliman]

Hi,

I'm not sure that this is the correct forum but I just wanted to ask the question.

My wife's mother is currently suffering from Alzheimers and she lives in Trinidad. She's in a nursing home and we suspect that she is coming to the end of her life. The ideal scenario would be for us to transfer her to a hospice but as such there are no hospices in Trinidad.
Therefore the only real option is for her to stay where she lives. Whilst the staff at the care home are very caring and she is very well looked after, they don't have any specific facilities/resources to deal with a patient coming to the end of their life. The main area for concern is easing the pain that my wife's mother will endure in the last days of her life once she is unable to continue to take nutrition/fluids. If she were in the UK, a plan would be put in place by a doctor i.e. morphine to ease any pain but in Trinidad we will specifically need to ask a private doctor to administer any drugs that may be required. Would you be able to give any guidance regarding what we can do and the drugs we can request to make her last days/weeks more comfortable?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Grannie G]

I`m so sorry you are caring long distance, it must be very difficult.

While I do appreciate your predicament, I really don`t think this Forum is the right place to ask for advice about palliative care. No-one is medically qualified to do so, and even so, it would be impossible without having a full medical history of you mother-in law.

The best person to ask for advice would be your GP.

Please don`t be discouraged, by my reply, from continuing to seek support from TP.
TP is here to provide and share information about our experiences, but cannot possibly prescribe.

I do hope your GP can help you.

Please post again to let us know.

Take care

 

[Margarita]

welcome to TP

Would you be able to give any guidance regarding what we can do and the drugs we can request to make her last days/weeks more comfortable?

sorry to read what is happening MIL , only advice I Can offer is that you speak to your doctor , hopeful he would know

 

[Brucie]

Hi blackchilliman

sorry to hear your story.

As the others have said, only the medical staff who care for her can really help.

My experience, with the residents at my wife's care home, is that the majority of them pass away quietly - often even unexpectedly - and very often because their immune system finally gives up the ghost and they get pneumonia.

Even the very long stay residents, who have been immobile for some years, just pass away.

Of course I have only got information on the medications given to my wife, and I don't see everything involved.