Durable Medical Equipment

Hi, All. I want to give you an update:

Doctor’s office called me early Monday morning and scheduled an office visit for Wednesday. They didn’t say why but I guess he needed to assess DH before ordering any durable medical equipment.

We made the appointment and met with his primary physician (DH usually seen first by the nurse practitioner). That told me that the doctor took my message seriously. After examining DH, asking questions my DH was slow to answer and seeing for himself how much DH had deteriorated since last visit, the doctor turned to me and said “do you think it is time to consider hospice?” I thought I was prepared after reading some of your responses, but got weepy just the same. I finally felt that the doctor heard me and could see/understand what I’ve been going through!

He had the receptionist call hospice with a referral right away and an ‘intake’ nurse came out that very afternoon. We have hospital bed, bedside commode, shower chair, wheelchair, and oxygen being delivered on Monday (so son and I can make room for all the equipment). Son picked up a ‘comfort kit’ from pharmacy and we have meds on hand for emergencies - morphine solution, an anti anxiety med, stool softeners, and a medicine to put under the tongue when DH is unable to swallow to dry up mouth secretions.

Yesterday I met with the nurse case manager who will check on us weekly, will meet with a social worker today to learn about their services, have a male aide coming next Thursday to help with a shower, and expect a call from music therapy to schedule a visit. There are also hospice volunteers who will come and sit with DH so I can get away for an hour, maybe two. I am going to get settled with everything’s before I ask for a volunteer, but I do plan to use that help as well.

I feel relieved, validated, and supported! And I wanted to share with those of you who may be considering hospice. The intake nurse made it clear that they are not home health care and will not come every time I ask for help getting DH out of bed, or any other activities of daily living. But they can teach me how to do these things. For me - the support and ability to call them 24/7 if I have questions, or in an emergency a team can come out to help me.

I have two documents to share. The first is the FAST scale that they use to determine if the patient is qualified for hospice. DH is stage 6c on this scale. I feel that the physician’s order for hospice was the reason DH was approved as the hospice guidelines state the patient needs to be greater than stage 7 on the scale. This is the next document I am sharing

https://mccare.com/pdf/fast.pdf

https://hospice.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/HospiceEligibilityQuickReferenceGuide.pdf

Each hospice is different and some may accept patients who are in stage 6 and others might be more strict. It never hurts to have an assessment. And if you are at the point where I was, get an appointment with your primary care doctor and have that conversation. As I said, I think our doctor’s orders is what got DH in.

I’ve last thing before I close - hospice is ‘end of life’ care. I signed a do not resuscitate (DNR) form and I also agreed to turn over all medical care to the hospice team. DH is still somewhat ambulatory, still eating some, still communicating with my son and me; he is not actively dying and may not be for a good while. If you decide to go this route, please do so knowing that your LO will no longer be medically managed, but will receive care that provides comfort measures. You can always go off hospice if that is too much. I am at peace with my decision and will keep you all posted on how we are doing. Thanks to all who read my post, and to those who responded so caringly.

~J