Hello everyone, I'm new here. My mother-in-law is 84 and broke her hip six months ago. Despite going through rehab, she has declined dramatically since then and went from 106 lbs. to 81 lbs. She is about 5' 2". We are caring for her at home and she is in hospice. She has been eating and drinking a little bit this past summer but now for the past week, I've noticed there is almost nothing in her diapers. Sorry if this is TMI but I'm only seeing about a half cup of urine in her diaper every other day. Does anyone here have any insight on how long she can survive like this? Thank you for any help or insight.
So sorry for you. Offer her Popsicles or those frozen pedialyte sticks. Let her eat whatever she feels like, nutrition doesn't matter at his point. Enjoy time together.
She was on death's doorstep when she got out of skilled nursing/rehab following the hip break --- very dehydrated,extremely weak. Couldn't even hold her head up. This summer we pampered her and gave her lots of TLC and she seemed to be doing better. She was eating quite well just a month or so ago.
I have been growing more alarmed over the past week, because about a week ago she just started to shut down and all of a sudden I'm not seeing anything in the diaper.
I have a feeling this is "it," but I'm confused as to how long she could continue to survive like this with only about a half cup of fluids every other day or so.
The odd thing is that she seems more lucid these past several days. Again, this confuses me. I would think that lack of food and water would cause her to sleep. Instead she appears wide awake and almost alert. She looks around the room with her eyes open.
If anyone has any insight or experience with this (elderly dehydration and its effects as the patient approaches death), I would love to hear. Thank you.
My experiences with friend's parent this year was about 5 days, they only gave him gelled water (he would choke on any amount of liquid water). Maybe they called it thickened water. Whatever, was all he tolerated.
What do the Hospice workers say? They have so much experience with these situations. Can they offer you any estimate of time?
Prayers for you and your family. I'll be thinking of you.
Where was your mom staying before Hospice was called? Was she in a NH or ALF?
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