2/20/10 Hospice Evaluation

Hi all.

This week I met with Dr. Dumler who agreed to write for a Hospice evaluation for Dad. She did not think he was ready yet but this would be good to establish a baseline. Jan and I met with Dad and the hospice nurse and social worker. It was very obvious to them that Dad is ready for hospice. They have a number of medication changes that Luba suggested and they agreed would probably be good; they will recommend these to the doctor. As a hospice pt, a nurse, chaplain, caregiver and social worker will be in the home, usually at least two visits a week from the nurse at first to get him established.

 

We also changed his POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatments) Form to limit the chance for him to be placed on life support, etc if he should have a down-turn. I have been thinking for some time that this needed to be updated to honor his long-time declarations that he was very opposed to those for himself.

 

Additionally, Dad complained about poor treatment there. We spent a long time teasing out what that meant. It seems that when he does unsafe things and they have to grab him to keep him from falling (peeing on the floor and then slipping on the wet floor, etc.). In his confused state he cannot distinguish between what they are doing per his initiation and what he perceives as harsh treatment. We did not blow this off but sought to discern what really is happening. We all will be very alert to any further perceptions he reveals.

 

Got to go for now. I and I'm sure Jan would be happy to explain this more fully if you like.

 

Got to go now.

 Merv