Hospice

I talked with the doctor tonight.  He says there is no way to know when we will officially need hospice, but he is going to write the order tonight.  He said that, now, death does not have to be imminent for hospice to step in to help.  They will evaluate Mother and be there to help with counseling for the family and apparently a lot of other services.  Mother's nurse, today, actually was recommending that we take Mother to the hospital.  I asked what the hospital could do that the nursing home couldn't do.  She thought for a minute and said that really the hospital couldn't do anything different.  The doctor tonight said that he would send her if the family wanted her to go, but he really didn't see a need.  Yea, doctor.  I was pleased that he felt that way.  He said that an ER doctor who doesn't know Mother or her situation would be evaluating her and then would make recommendations about meds, etc......  Then, when she came back to the nursing home we would, again, have to try to straighten her meds out again.  He said that of course there are times when sending a resident to the hospital would be the right thing to do, but not in Mother's case.  She's on antibiotics for pneumonia and a UTI, but otherwise, he doesn't see that there is anything different that we could be doing.  Of course, we can still try to get her to drink and eat, but we can't force her.  He's right about that, when she doesn't want anymore (which is usually after about 2 bites of some pureed something) she will not open her mouth for anything!  Sometimes I can get the straw in her mouth, but I can't force her to drink.