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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Hospice care is for people who are terminal and have decided to discontinue life saving measures. Hospice keeps them comfortable until they die, however long that is. If you still want life saving measures to be used, it’s not time for hospice yet.

I’m so sorry.[/quote]

Thank you for this. Yes, I believe we are at the point where we are no longer pursuing any life-saving measures save those that alleviate discomfort or pain.  I'm just wondering how much longer he can be expected to continue like this.  His quality of life has severely diminished over the past year or two, but this recent turn seems to cement it. The whole "one year" thing just kind of threw me, although my mother's explanations on issues like this can often get garbled.[/quote]

Yes unfortunately op it is very difficult to know and while it is true that some folks live longer than expected like in the example from your mom, it is not the norm. Hospice can be a wonderful service for a loved one to help keep them comfortable. Often folks think of it as imminent because to be honest, drs are pretty bad at helping families realize that medical intervention is no longer likely to increase quality of life. Drs have a really hard time with these conversations so often people receive hospice services far later than might have been helpful. It sounds like you are doing it at the right time before too much suffering back and forth from the hospital which is really hard on people but ESPECIALLY people with dementia. Very sorry for your loss op. [/quote]

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