My Dad had terrible pain with his cancer. Back then, there was no hospice, but a wonderful VA doctor managed his care. She told us that a patient is always happier in his home, and she guided us as we took him home. My Dad actually teared up as he entered our house again.
I never forgot that. It motivated me to become a nurse at the old age of 45 with the goal of working in hospice. It took me a few years, but when you have a goal in mind, you can do anything. And so, for 30 years, I worked as a hospice nurse. And when you work at something you love, it feels more like a vocation than it does a job.
Nobody should have to die in pain, and hospice made sure that didn’t happen. Situations came up where families had difficulty medicating their loved ones, and for them, there was inpatient care. Patients who needed this were taken to the hospice facility, where they were able to die peacefully and without pain in a caring and warm environment.
When a loved one has a heartbreaking condition and the prognosis is poor, it’s often the first encounter family members have with terminal illnesses. Having caring people supporting you means so much to a family. And for those who feel hospice is a dead-end pathway, they are reminded that some patients do so well on this program that they are actually taken off the program and readmitted if and when needed.
My husband is diabetic and has heart problems, and so when one of my patients presented with COVID-19 symptoms, I took a leave of absence from work. Sadly, at 72, that leave turned into my retirement, and then, to complicate that change, we had an electrical fire in our home, which forced us to move. I wasn’t sure what was causing the feeling of loss, as I had a great husband, a wonderful family, and had settled nicely in a condo out East. I knew I had missed the peace I found in caring for patients, so I decided to try volunteering at East End Hospice. Best move I could have ever made! My sister-in-law had been a patient at their inpatient facility a few years earlier, and our family found it so peaceful and serene, and the care she received was above and beyond wonderful. So I asked to be a volunteer at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care. Within no time, the days I spent as a volunteer just completely filled the void in my life
The only thing in life we are assured of is that someday we will die. And again, no one should die in pain or loneliness. I hope that, by reading this, I may encourage a reader to understand how wonderful hospice is and to have no fear should they or someone they care about need it.
