My Mother is in a nursing home. She has had dementia for at least 10 years she lived on her on for about 3 of those years and then moved in with us for 5 years. She started falling alot so we decided to send her to rehab and she has been in a nursing home since. She recenlty had a upper respiratory infection and since then she has completely stopped eating. She didn't eat much before but now she has completely stopped. Her drinking has slowed down too. I just don't know if it is because of the respiratory infection which is gone now or if I should call hospice in.
his doctor said he was NOT dying and refused to call in hospice. That was the day before he died. The night he died, he was in the ER before I took him home where he died 3 or 4 hrs later. The dr. nurse came into ER and apologized to me for her Dr's misunderstanding and said that hospice would start tomorrow. Unfortunately, my husband suffered in terrible pain and died before hospice could start. I was very fortunate however as my pastors wife was a nurse at the hospital and knew the hospice person. She call her and she drove over 30 miles to get to our house. Legally, she could do nothing as her job did not start until the next day. But, she was there to witness the death, therefore the sheriff did not have to be called to report the death. It was horrible. The doctor is a good doctor but just misjudged this one person, My Husband.
All the signs you report can indicate approaching death but they may just be because she has been very ill. Remember it takes the elderly and sick a very long time to recover.