CAREGIVING AT END OF LIFE

 I'm afraid," Bob told me.  "I'm in my mid-eighty's.  I'm not going to live forever, and no one's taught me how to die. Or how to live in the meantime. You've taken care of a lot of people as a hospice nurse. Do you have tips for someone like me? "

Bob's comment got me thinking. Decades of working as a hospice nurse has provided me with a repository of wisdom. It's not my own, at least mostly, but it might help.  But where to start? And what to include?

At some point in the course of an illness, most people choose to seek professional care-giving assistance. Hiring an hourly caregiver or being connected with a home health or hospice program allows many people to continue caring for a loved one at home. This is a brief tutorial on what hospice and home health does and when you need them.

Having a serious or life-threatening illness is difficult. Adding uncontrolled pain and unmanaged discomfort worsens an already tough situation. This is a discussion on how to obtain good care, excellent pain control, and solid symptom management during a life-limiting illness.