Time for Hospice evaluation or too early?

KatieKat1

DH can still walk around the house and yard.

Cannot communicate well due to due to Primary Aggressive Aphasia.

In the past week he barely eats two bites of anything and not drinking much either.

He did use the toilet up until four days ago but goes in his depends now and does not realize it.

He sleeps okay but it takes him a while to do that.  He always gets agitated before bedtime...nothing new with that.  I think it is because he does not like to have his night bag put on his urine pouch (Urosotmy from Bladder Cancer 14 years ago).

Since he is hardly eating and drinking the Seroquel will have to be slowly removed but not sure how I will wean him off of it since he will take no pills and I have to crush them to put in his food that he does not eat now.

Does medicare and medicare supplement cover any hospice care?  Is it time for evaluation?

I am not sure if DH is just have a bad few days or if this is a sign of quick progression of this disease. 

Not sure how ill an Alzheimer patient has to be before Hospice steps in.

Thank you for any information you can share.

Cynbar

It doesn't hurt to contact a local hospice and ask for an eval, not sure if he qualifies but you don't lose a thing by trying. The criteria for dementia patients is a little vague, sometimes one hospice will say no and another will say yes. They will contact your doctor for you. Also, hospices differ somewhat in what they cover so you may want to interview more than one (not all cover incontinence supplies, for instance.) Medicare will pay the entire cost of hospice services.

M1

I agree with Cynbar Katie, absolutely nothing to lose by asking.  Seroquel comes in liquid btw, if you have an easier time getting liquid down that solids....might be worth a phone call.  Or Hospice can potentially help you with that too.  Keep us posted, I know you must be sad.