Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Checking In

Hello Everyone,

Just checking in. I had to be away for a bit. Mom had gotten ill, we are now considering if it's time for Hospice. So it's been a rather busy and emotional time.

I had wanted to wish everyone a gentle and prosperous New Year.

Barbara

Barbara,

Sorry to hear about your mom. I spent the holidays dealing with my 95 year old mother-in-law who badly needs to be placed but whose only son (my husband) continues to resist. There is a reason we do not have children in our 50's....we are not equipped with the patience to raise them but, unfortunately, many of us are now having to "raise" our elders.
Hope your New Year is better. I know my office staff is hoping the same for me as my grumpiness seems to hit them the hardest.

Leslie, who may spend tomorrow night locked in my bedroom with a case of Corona and a sack of limes.

I hope she is doing o.k.
Happy new year

Thanks, Adam. On my way to look at facilities in my little community....looks bleak.

Leslie

My thoughts are with you. It seems we physicians often have a harder time than most getting these basic issues of care resolved for our families. We deal with one end of the process over and over until it grinds us down, but we are never a part of the other side. The family discussion that others share are not available to us, because one person sits down at the table as a physician. And the physician who sits down at the table, after a full week of work just wants to see the right thing get done, (ordered) and doesn't need (or want) to work through the thought processes involved with the rest of the family. As a family we don't move along to the same conclusion. A lot of frustration results. Thoughts and prayers to you and yours.

Thanks everyone. Mom has rallied, but she's very clear about her desires and the ultimate outcome. I'm grateful for that.

During all of this, I had a patient (same dx as Mom) who discharge himself from hospice because he wanted me to handle his care. He came into the office the day before he died. He looked at me in the eye and told me he was ready to die. His family called me the next day (Jan 1)to let me know he had died after ringing in the NY. Somedays this stuff is just too close to home.