Dearest Myra and Lex,
Your doctor has made a suggestion that will help you more than you realize. If we had not had Hospice the last year of Doug's life we could not have made it through. He was relieved of so much stress and fear. We were very fortunate that pain was not a problem for him, with the exception of some bouts with his rheumatoid arthritis. Hospice was even able to increase and add to the RA drugs for that so the pain was minimal and short lived.
As for bills, once he was officially on Hospice, Medicare covered EVERYTHING. The drugs for his arthritis were not a part of his Hospice needs, so we did use our regular insurance for those.
I'll give you a brief rundown of the services our Hospice provided. We immediately had visits from a Registered Nurse (to get his history and assess his immediate needs), a Social Worker (to explain the counseling and social services available to all of us) and an Administrator who answered all our questions.
We started with a CNA (certified nursing assistant) who came 3 times a week to help him bath and dress (as needed). A RN (Registered Nurse) who visited once a week and was on-call 24/7. A Social Worker who visited once a month, but again, on call 24/7. A Hospice Chaplain asked permission to start visiting occasionaly, but was also available whenever we needed him.
As time passed and Doug became weaker, we needed more help. Hospice provided a hospital bed, the CNA changed his bed linens and shaved him, urinary catheter, a wheelchair, a bedside commode, over bed tray table, bed pads, all medicine was delivered to my door the evening I called for a refill, skin care lotions and creams. One other service which was invaluable to me, respite care.
My children were here anytime I needed them, but I was responsible for Doug and the house 24/7 and after a while, I became exhausted. Hospice came with an ambulance, transferred Doug to the Hospice Home and they took care of him, nursing care and doctors available in the home for 5 days and nights. His room was more like a comfortable hotel room than a hospital room although all the needed equipment and supplies were available. Once again, no charge to us. We had to use this respite care 3 times and once he became very ill and they transferred him there for 'symptom management'. He had pneumonia. When he recovered, they brought him home again.
As he worsened, the nurse and social worker visits increased in frequency. There were several times I had to call them at night and a nurse came promptly to assess and help with whatever was needed. Doug died here at home and once again, Hospice took care of everything. He wanted to be cremated and helped select the crematorium with me and our children. They came here to the house sat down with us and discussed everything. The morning Doug died, I called Hospice and a nurse came out immediately, the Chaplain and social worker were not far behind. The nurse "pronounced" him, the social worker contacted the crematorium, the chaplain held us (the family) together. The people from the crematorium came and took Doug away, the nurse took care of his room, etc. and we did not have to deal with any details at all.
Myra, I can tell you that Hospice here is WONDERFUL and I really don't think I could have survived without them. I hope your Hospice is as helpful as ours is.
Gentle Hugs,
Tomasue
