I think what we as an AD caregiver need to realize is that hospice is palliative care. The signs that hospice mention in their book are all too common to Alzheimers. In order to put them in perspective there needs to be a more substantial problem also....an example would be cancer or in moms case her bladder being with constant infections and the bleed into it that we have been watching of late.
Hospice care is set up in the US tobe for patients that dr.s feel have maybe 6 months to live...but once again they know that each person is different. Our hospice has an AD patient who has been with them for 4 years. He will go way down then rally and thrive. Tho his thriving is not a life tobe envied.
I posted this originally with this in mind:
Mom has recently gone into hospice. The information on this link is very helpful if you feel that this may be the time. I don't recommend reading it unless you feel the end may be near. It can be quite easy or can be hard to read. Please don't read just the article that has been posted as there is much more info on this sight that is very useful to a caregiver. I hope it will help to bring peace to you as a caregiver.
Personally for me I do not think it is appropriate to a patient who has AD, unless they are in the very late stages. Stage 7. Mom has been stage 7 for 3 months now and she went from 4 to 7 over night it seems. Thanks to a few strokes. Did I think hospice was approprate for her....not until a few weeks ago when her catheter bag filled with blood instead of urine.
That comes and goes. Do I feel she will be with hospice long? For her sake I hope she at least sees the birth of her first grandbaby..I know she won't know what is going on, but I at least will have the comfort of a 4 generation pic (I know selfish of me.)
I do feel however that there are other articles on the website that can give comfort to the caregiver of a AD patient. If you stop to think about it there comes a time in their life when you have to take over and in reality you are giving palliative care from that point. Maybe in bad health but will still live a long life and you know it you still want them comfortable.
I think a few weeks (?) back there was a thread on dying of AD. It came to no conclusion but the point with this is that the patient has AD and eventually he/she may die. With a health problem you watch them die with AD they can still die a normal death but we say AD because they had AD. I Know this can be different cases also because some AD patients are young..but do you get my drift. This is all about a state of mind that has to be achieved to get the patient comfortable and if you are uncomfortable so is your AD patient.
(Sorry I feel very strong about this.....and I promise I was not on 2 soap boxes, just one
)
I hope I have not offended anyone.
I hope those of you who read this ahead of time will be able to understand me and I hope it will make it easier on you at that time.
HUGs
Nancy