Talking to one of my good friends since college ~ like myself she’s also a caregiver for her grandmom... Anyway, her grandmom wasn’t feeling well for a few days and the nursing home ended up sending her to the ER. Well, condensed version ~ sepsis, lungs filled with fluid. Just spoke with her, she said she’s only authorizing comfort care. Medications were stopped. We were talking about hospice in general. She seems to think it’s too late (given the current state of affairs) and I’m not so sure ~ if anything she’d get much needed support to deal with the things that will be coming. Thoughts? Ideas? Is calling hospice at this point a lost cause?
We've had patients on our service for HOURS instead of days before they passed away. There is no "cut-off" or "too late" time. Call now and get it set up. At least your friend's grandma will have a hospital bed, nurses to check on her, medications for pain and anxiety (if pt. has any), oxygen, commode, diapers and Chux (if needed), etc. Research to find one with good ratings and no infractions.
Please have her read over the entire agreement before signing it. You can always back out if there is something you can't live with. If she wants gram to go to ER for treatment, it would automatically cancel hospice. It sounds like something that might be a blessing for grandma.
God bless
Grandmom is currently in the hospital (cardiac floor I think) ~ but I’m pretty sure hospice can still come out (right?).
(...she did say that her grandmom is kept comfortable with morphine and isn’t in any distress. She does know what’s going on and is aware that she’s very sick.)
((hugs)) to your friend.