Rebecca, YOU GO GIRL!!!  I think you hit the nail on the head.  That is exactly how I felt.    Rayofsun, I did the same thing.  I did not know that mother only had a few weeks left to live.  I'm glad I could give her a sip of water at 2 am and I'm glad I could fluff her pillow and tell her I loved her at 3 am.  I am still empty, I still ache and my back still hurts, but I'm glad I did what I did and I do not rue the things I could not do.  I've sent all the Thank You notes and paid the funeral home.  I am trying to find my life again, not my old life, but a new one knowing that I accomplished the mission I had in front of me.    Please try to keep going, use hospice as much as possible and keep the faith.

Hello, I would like to tell you about my experience with Hospice.  It was a terrible ordeal and they almost killed my husband.  He was diagnosed with Gastric Cancer Stage 4 in Aug of 08.  Then he was also diagnosed with Liver Cancer Stage 3 in Sept 08.  Two different cancers.  They gave him 3 to 6 months to live.  He has not had any type of treatment.  There were no options available.  He is not in any pain at all.  He looks healthy.  He has lost about 40 lbs since Aug.  He is still alive today. We started Hospice in Nov 08.  They made all kinds of mistakes. We fired them in December.  They had his diagnosis wrong and they gave him an antibotic for a severe cold that he had in early December.  When I went to the pharmacy to pick up the medicine for him the pharmacist asked me what type of cancer he had and he advised me not to give him the medication.  He told me that it would induce bleeding of the stomach with an advance tumor and that he could bleed to death within hours.  So needless to say, I called his regular doctor the next morning and fired hospice.  I live in Texas and if Hospice had given the coroner the wrong information for the death certificate we would have had to go to court to get it corrected.  So please make sure that the information that hospice has for your loved ones is correct.  We know that we are in the end stages of his life.  We also know that God is totally and completely in charge.  Maybe we were not meant to have hospice in our lives.  But I will tell you that I really could have used the support.  Life is very precious to us.  I look forward to each and everyday that we have together.  I will tell you that I was very disappointed in their service.  I do not look forward to doing this alone.  I would have appreciated the help.  My husband is doing well. We have exceeded there death times and we are very grateful for all that we have been given. 

I hope that you who have the hospice service get a great deal from them.   

Hi AllanaJane,

I'm so sorry to hear about your hospice experience! I know the goal is to make the last weeks or months as high quality as possible. All I can say is the 2 experiences I've had with Hospice both in different states were quite powerful and wonderful. If you are indeed in need of help, you might want to consider trying a different agency. Good luck to you both! Rebecca

Hi AllanaJane,

I'm so sorry your experience was not a good one! I've honestly only heard good things, so I hope that your story is a one-in-a-million. both my grandmother and my grandfather had hospice in their last days and only the best things were said about these folks. I do hope you register severe complaints where you can so that your experience isn't repeated for anyone else.

Bless,

Laura