Saturday

Mother is not doing well. She isn't drinking or eating, so I don't know how much longer she can hold on. 

We selected to use Vitas Hospice and we met with a nurse this morning and admitted Mother. The nurse was very nice and she seemed to know what she is doing.  Mother's assigned nurse will probably come tomorrow to see what kind of care Mother needs.

Mother can't talk and I have been communicating with her through blinks. I ask a question and if the answer is yes she blinks. If she doesn't blink I then turn around the question so that she should blink if she really meant no the first time. First I have to make sure that I have her attention. It was working well this morning. She wanted to try some ice cream, but I think it hurt too much to swallow. She only took one small bite. Mother was in pain, so asked the nurse to give her something, but the nurse wasn't showing up. After the hospice nurse left I asked Mother if she was in pain and she quickly and firmly closed her eyes. It was obvious that she was in more pain than before, so I went down and asked about the pain medication again. The nurse gave Mother some morphine and that seemed to help. We left shortly after that.

We went back up in the afternoon when Mother is usually awake, but I think she had just had some morphine. She wasn't able to focus much, but I think she realized we were there. We stayed a little while to see if she would wake more, but she didn't. I went back this evening, but she had had morphine about an hour prior and she was already asleep.