After three doctors suggested that we speak with The Hospice and Palliative Care Center, we set an appointment for yesterday. Ernie was in his workshop when the nurse arrived to sign us up. Not too far into the conversation, she suggested that perhaps calling in Hospice at this point was premature.
The focus of Hospice is symptom management--something that Ernie could use--in the comfort of your own home. However, as with most things related to health care, the government calls the shots and the rules are complicated.
To get Hospice care, you must sign over your treatment to them. The Hospice doctors then determine your meds and care. They only provide palliative care--no curative or life-saving measures.
You can revoke your Hospice treatment at any time, but you must do so before seeking life-saving measures. This means, in the case of emergency, you have to call Hospice and revoke that treatment before you can call 911 or go to the emergency room. If you don't intend to call 911, this is not an issue but we are definitely not there yet.
The nurse told Ernie he did not look like her typical patient. Generally her patients are not well enough to be in their workshops. Also, since Ernie has his PET/CT scans next Wednesday, if we signed up we would just have to revoke for the test (since it is for curative purposes) and then sign up again after the test. The nurse thought that the lymphedema massages would also qualify as seeking treatment, so we would have to revoke before each of his twice weekly massages as well.
While it would be nice to have nurses and medicine come to us instead of running out every day, we are still very capable of doing these things. So, we elected to continue without Hospice. Ernie's Internist will have to provide symptom management for now.
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