My mom's nursing home called today to tell me that the doctor recommended that she go on hospice care. They said she has entered the last stage of Alzheimer's and is not taking in nutrients, just liquids. I'm going there tomorrow morning to fill out the necessary release forms. They said she could last as long as six months but my aunt, who is a retired RN, told me it's probably going to be no more than a month, that they don't put people on hospice care unless they're really near the end. She thinks one or more of her organs must be failing so I'm hoping to find out more tomorrow morning. I got the feeling the nurse wasn't telling me everything, but that isn't something you want to tell someone over the phone when they're at work.
I'll keep you posted. Even though I've watched her dying by inches over the years, this is still hard.
Thanks for listening, my friends.
Nina