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I lost my father to cancer two years ago as of this month. He was diagnosed with stage IV terminal lung cancer, and a year later was gone. He died 7 days after his 60th birthday.
During that time, we had home hospice care for months. A nurse came by a few times per week and checked up on his progress, managed medication, adjusted doses and so forth. They gave anything and everything prescription-wise that they could use to make him comfortable and keep him lucid as much as possible for his sake and ours, and would talk with us and him and answer any questions that we had.
When the time came and he was in so much pain he couldn't move or talk... well, it came quick after that, just a few days. When he went, his entire family was in the room with him. Four sons with spouses, grandchildren, his wife. We were all able to tell him as his last breath left his body that we loved him.
It's a.. horrible memory, to be honest. But it's very much my belief that it was way better than receiving a phone call from a hospital that he'd gone without any or all of his family there, and it gave us time to spend together at home while we could, right up to the last moment.
Hospice care is a good thing.
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07-30-2010, 05:16 AM
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