Hospice

May 28, 2025

The day chemo ended, Mom was admitted to Hospice. The company is called Bridges Hospice, and about 6 weeks later, our hospice nurse visited for the first time in mid-September. She explained that their visits would be once every 12-14 days to start, (in order to stay in compliance with Medicare, they require hospice nurses to visit patients once every two weeks at minimum). She visits for about an hour or two, and she takes vitals, addresses any health issues, and offers a multitude of services that they have available to patients and families.

When Mom’s hair fell out from chemo, and I needed to shave the rest of her head, Jade decided to surprise her by shaving his head too so she “didn’t have to be bald alone.”

Since I’d been managing mom’s care for so long, it was definitely challenging having a stranger helping me help her. I’m diabolically protective of my family (and I watch too many documentaries about health care gone wrong), so I had to really step outside my comfort zone with the whole situation. Fortunately our hospice nurse Lynn is absolutely wonderful!

One of the health issues that decided to rear its ugly head was a fairly large kidney stone, and it tortured her daily. The location where it was lodged and the size of it indicated that surgery to remove it was necessary. She was surprisingly cleared for surgery, and the stone was removed without incident . Unfortunately, she still has many urinary problems and long-term side effects from the surgery (multiple UTIs, pain, etc.).

As fall turned to winter, Mom’s symptoms started to worsen some. We were relieved and grateful she made it for another Christmas season, but it was the beginning of watching her eat less, experience more pain, and sleep a lot more. In fact, those are the 3 things that continue to decline as the days pass. I’m certain it could be a lot worse.

---

NEW SYMPTOMS

At the end of last month, April 2025, Mom’s symptoms started to increase, as her overall health declined. She’s been eating very little (maybe 5-10 bites of food/day), lost 17 pounds in 2 weeks, can’t leave the house, walking is a challenge, she’s very shaky, and it feels like she’s starting to mentally and emotionally withdraw from us.

She had a stroke about 2 weeks ago, and we didn’t think she would make it through the night. Before I got her into bed, she couldn’t walk or talk and was only awake a few hours the days before and after. Her voice and speech changed too.

My dad and I have also noticed that she’s becoming more confused, and off and on, she’s having hallucinations about different things, including our family pets that passed over a decade ago, Hospice says that the cancer is likely in her brain now and causing neurological symptoms. She also has pretty bad liver pain since her liver is riddled with cancer. Fortunately we’ve been able to keep her comfortable with a lot of prescription pain medications and medical marijuana.

My dad and I are doing everything we can to keep her spirits up, but there’s nothing more frustrating than watching someone you love slowly drift away. We have reached a point that the only things we care about are that she’s comfortable and in the least amount of pain possible.

I’ll do my best to keep you updated on what’s happening and if anything changes. Please keep her in your prayers.