A quick update on

Hi All,
Well I have the unhappy news that "Dad" was placed into Hospice today. Of course we have our chins up, but it doesn't look like he's going to make it too much longer. We likely only have months with him now.

The good news is that means that we will finally be getting some respite care!! The 'ball' has been dropped several times now with things like getting respite care, getting training on how to lift "Dad" from the bed (we've hurt us and "Dad" now thanks to this! ), and a few other things. We are hoping Hospice has it together enough to not drop the ball....or they won't like the person I will become at this stage in "Dad's" life. No one gets to do that any more, and I'm just stubborn enough to be likely the loudest squeaky wheel they've ever heard!

So hubby and I are looking forward to having a few days to sleep more than 2 hours at a time and being able to stay in bed for more than the 6 hours of broken sleep we've been getting! It'll also be interesting to sit down during an entire meal!!!!

It's been kind of crazy. Everyone -including the Hospice nurse that was here yesterday has been surprised at how quickly he seemed to decline. Although he did hit his head pretty hard just before the first of the year and then again just three weeks ago.

I did some reading (of course), and read that hits to the head can bring on more severe symptoms and decline with Alzheimer's/dementia patients. So I think that had a lot to do with this sudden decline.

The biggest decline has been over the last three weeks since the last hit to the head. He had gone into his room as he was agitated that dinner wasn't ready as soon as he said he was hungry (LOL!) and we believe he sat down in his chair, but when he tried to get up, he lost his balance and fell - hitting his head against the wall pretty hard. We rushed him in to the Emergency room of course and he ended up with 9 staples in the top of his head! Scared the day lights out of all of us! It took a few days for the sudden decline to start, but by around day 4 after the last hit to the head, we could see that he was losing even more cognitive function, and fast.

The other thing is that we don't really know how bad things were before he moved in with us as he lived alone. All we knew was that he was always "very busy" and was never ready when we got there to take him anywhere - not that that was an issue, we just waited for him to get ready or changed our plans. BUT - no one knew for sure how well he got along on his own.

The nurse said it was possible that once he moved in with us, he felt safe and cared for and had a 'rally' that he otherwise wouldn't have had. I kind of cornered the Hospice nurse and asked about what time period she's seen the most when a patient is at this point and she said he's likely only got a few months left.

He now can't even get out of bed, he can't stand on his own and can hardly sit up for long without sliding out of the chair. He's beginning to have trouble swallowing liquids and his pills. He goes days without wanting any food and just wants to sleep much of the time. After reading the Hospice notebook we got, it all fits into the "timeline" that it talks about as a person nears the end of their life.

My heart breaks for my husband now as he goes through loosing his Dad.

Thank you Carol. I really appreciate your kind words. I only hope that Hospice provides much more help than any one else here has. This man deserves some decent care. My husband and I are doing everything we can to provide for him, but it's worse than pulling toe nails trying to get help here in this area. It sure tells me what I'll be doing when we get through our own ordeal - volunteering my time on forums and on the phone to help others going through this. Had we know half of what we know now, we would have been able to get much more help not only for "Dad", but for us as well.

Again, thank you for your kind words, and sorry for the short rant.

Thank you so much for the encouragement, Carol. Things like that can and do mean the world to me - I'm sure you can relate, having gone through this yourself.