Hospice in Place

Hospice is in place, the nurse went to dad's place today to do an assessment.   The R.N. will go in twice a week, and aides will go in each morning for about an hour.   They will help dad shower, get him dressed, check all his vitals, etc.    They will also take over the medication management.  If dad falls, Chancellor is supposed to call hospice, and they will come and do an assessment.  He did fall yesterday morning, but didn't seem to be in pain, although he did have a nasty bruise on his right arm.  He fell in the dining area, tripped over his feet.  I got to Chancellor a little early, so walked down the hall.  There he was, at the end of the hall, in one of his usual spots.  Sound asleep.   As I walked toward him, I noticed that he had lost more weight, even from when I saw him a week ago.   The shirts and pants drown him, and his belt is on the last notch. It is tough to see him so thin and gaunt.  I rubbed his arm and called him pop.  He opened his eyes and asked me why I called him pop.  Told him he was my dad, I was his daughter.  He said, "Really?  That's nice."  He then went back to sleep.  A few minutes later, he said he was really tired from working.   I asked if he had been working hard all day and he said yes.   Fred and I met with the clincal director of the Hospice group - Hospice Care of Northern Utah.  We felt really good about their approach, and signed him up.   This was tough - here we are, talking about end of life care for my dad.  I thought moving him to Chancellor was difficult, and this is right up there with that event.   I have to keep reminding myself that it is dad's comfort that we must think of, but it is still really hard to know that he won't be with us much longer.   He is definitely in the final stages, and will probably be really happy when he can be the real Charlie again. I will continue to post updates.