[boxer steve]

Sorry man. My thoughts and prayers will be with you and your family.

[Jimmy Key v.1.4]

ahhh 81 eh? that's a good long stretch.

considering the average age of sherdoggers, i thought you were gonna say...50 or something.

how old are you!

[EddieH4444]

That's great that she's doing well, even if she doesn't recover it's awesome that you get to have her back for at least a couple days. I'll pray for her.

[M.o.A]

first and foremost - im sorry to hear about your mother, stay strong, but as they say - rain falls on all roofs and ive been in intensive care for loss of too much blood surrounded by people with life support machines, made me turn my life around. Stay strong

[Voltaire]

Originally Posted by NeuroNerd

Mom was admitted into home hospice care last Sunday. She was diagnosed in the hospital with Small Cell Lung Cancer. All we really know is she has a very large mass pressing against her lung. She refused a PET and additional CAT scan in order to see if it ****stisized. But it's the docs opinion that it is certainly in her brain because of her confusion.

Home hospice is wonderful. I can't complain at all about the workers. they are caring and compassionate and imo, deserve a special place in heaven. The entire process however is very draining on me.

On Wednesday when the nurse came, she told us mom was "actively dying". She had mottling in her legs and arms. Her hands and feet were like ice. Her toes were blue and her fingers were turning blue. She was hallucinating. She was having 10-15 second apneas and her breathing was very labored, then at night it was very shallow. We were convinced wednesday night was going to be her last because of all the signs. I'll make another thread about the process and euthenasia on another day.

Lo and behold, thursday was the best day she's had in months. She woke up and was bright eyed and bushy tailed all day. She ate well, she was funny, very lucid, and was breathing very well. It was extremely bizarre. I was freaking out a little, cause it does give you a false sense of hope that a miracle is happening.

Today is much of the same. She is very lucid, calm, funny, having a great time. I was a wreck seeing my mother struggle for air and not having the breath to talk, now I'm seeing her talk about getting better and walking around a bit.

Because of these unexpected days with her which were joyful, I think I can let go feeling very good. It's been a real treasure and I know she is much more comfortable than she was a few days prior. Its just hard, because maybe next time she gets bad, I'll hold out a false hope that she might get better. I'm just an emotional wreck right now.

Has anyone experienced hospice with someone?

Haven't any experience with a hospice but spent literally days at the hospital with my grandfather who was in the last stages of emphysiema. I flew down from where I lived, arrived about 10 pm at the hospital and it was like he was just waiting for me, still very lucid and aware of his surroundings. That changed very quickly due to the increasing lack of oxygen to the brain and the amount of morphine they were giving him to stop the hallucinations he was having. One minute I'd be able to have a conversation with him, the next he was sure I or the nurse assigned to him was out to kill him. Very trying and emotional experience for me as I was the only one on night watch. At times I can remember I just wish he'd die as I was so mentally burnt from it, will always feel bad about that. He started having more severe hallucinations about 1am in the morning 2 nights later and I had to literally hold him down in bed and hit the panic button for the nurse. She came in, shot him up with morphine while I held him down and he died in arms right then. Just looked up at the wall and stopped breathing. Sounds bad but it was actually quite peaceful and believe it or not, anti-dramatic.

[-dirtywhiteboy-]

sorry to hear that home boy, my heart goes out to you adn your family, Godbless you bro

[Igorot Warrior]

Sorry to hear that. I'm not a religious person...but my best wishes go out to you and your family...especially your mom.

[Timbaland]

I'm sorry to hear about this bro. I wish you and your family the best of luck

[Goodfoot]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[flowwiththego]

My wife lost her father and grandmother to cancer. Both had hospice care. My dad died last summer after an 8 month battle with pneumonia. Good Luck and God Bless. If this world spent as much time and money healing instead of killing, what a wonderful world this would be.