Your mom or dad’s health has been steadily failing. They have been diagnosed with a terminal disease, and the medical treatments they had been receiving no longer seem to have any positive effect. And all they tell you day after day is that they want to be left alone, that it is their time to go. You realize that they have made peace with the idea of dying, but that you have not. Do your parents need hospice or is home health care a better solution? How do you know?

Darren Needed to Know

Darren called us one day. He had seen our website and thought we might be able to steer him in the right direction. Darren told me that his father seemed confused about most things, but the one thing he was sure of was he didn’t want to continue any medical treatment for his cancer. He was tired of being poked and all the testing he had to go through. He told Darren, “all I want to do is rest. No more treatments. I’m done.” As you can imagine, Darren was at his wit’s end. He loved his father. On the one hand, the thought of ending chemotherapy terrified him; it meant his father’s demise. On the other hand, Darren had always believed that each individual should have a say in how they leave this world and that included his father. He wanted to know what I thought. I told him that I would speak to his father’s doctor (Darren had power of attorney for his father’s medical care, thankfully). I explained that to qualify for hospice his father had to have his doctor acknowledge that he had less than six months to live and that the medical intervention being used was no longer making a difference.

Darren took my advice and after speaking to his dad’s doctor called me back. The doctor agreed hospice was the best solution for his dad.

Signs that It is Time for Hospice Care

If Darren had these questions, I realized that others in the communities we serve must too. What should people look out for to determine if hospice is the appropriate answer? Here are seven signs that may indicated that hospice is imminent. Your loved one:

1. May have no appetite and is refusing food and water.
2. Is not improving even after aggressive treatments for their life-threatening disease.
3. Doesn’t want to continue treatment and without it, they will die.
4. Has been told by their physician that nothing more can be done except to make them comfortable.
5. Is going back and forth to the hospital due to infections and treatments.
6. May have is experiencing changes in their body temperature, blood pressure or breathing.
7. Is in extreme pain and can no longer function due to it.

How Luxe Can Help

Hospice offers families many benefits, including the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that their loved one is being care for by trained hospice professionals. While their ill family member receives the comfort care and pain management they so desperately need, the family members can get support from a hospice community that understands what they are going through.

At Luxe Hospice, we realize what an emotionally-packed time this is for families, and do all we can to make it a time filled with good memories.

Certified by Medicare, Luxe Hospice strives to provide the highest level of hospice care in the industry. We create an environment focused on the entire family taking care to make your loved one feel safe and cared for while attending to your spiritual and emotional needs.  We serve clients in Bel Air, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Santa Monica.

Read more about Luxe Hospice Services.

We provide hospice services throughout the greater Los Angeles and Orange County areas and can be reached at (310) 459-2040, info@Luxehc.com.