My 92-year-old dad was kicked out of rehab because he was not progressing fast enough for the insurance company to continue paying. We decided the next step would be hospice at his own house. He is very heavy to lift and has lost strength throughout his body. Gets tired alot. Appetite is bad. Wondering how we are going to get through this difficult time and how long he will survive this?
Hospice can come into the SNF to care for him. If you hire in home hospice, you'll do 99% of the caregiving yourself and that's the truth. If he's approved, a CNA will come in 2x a week to bathe him, and an RN once a week to check his vitals and see about meds. A social worker and chaplain come over about once or twice a month, and you'll be given a hospital bed and supplies for dad. That's about it, until he's actively dying and then the nurse visits ore often.
You can bring him back to the ER like Mac suggested, too....I'm not sure how all that would work, but it's worth a try.
Good luck to you
You are stuck in the middle. He will need at least 2 people even to turn unless he can help. Now that he is home, you are under the burdon to hire help....approx $30 per hour. I will bet a care company will tell you it will take several days. Plus there are some parts of the country where they are turning away 1 in 4 due to lack of staff.
If you find this is too much to handle, bring him back to the hospital ER where he started and inform them what just happened that he was dumped on you and that you were not prepared and informed correctly. This may now be more costly if you knew.
As you mentioned, appetite is poor so it may be only a few weeks, but what will you be able to do as he gets weaker and becomes more like dead weight. Were you shown how to clean up the bodily waste?
Have you contacted any hospice agencies yet? They are definitely not "one size fits all".
What usually happens first is the hospice agency sends an intake nurse to evaluate the patient. I *strongly* suggest that there are several family members there when this evaluation takes place, especially the ones who will be primarily responsible for dad's care while he is in hospice. Because if dad remains at home, then 95% of the caregiving responsibility for dad will rest with family members. Listen to the intake nurse; ask as many questions as you need to; take and keep notes. It's a lot of information to take in in one sitting; hospice will also likely leave you an informational packet. Read through it, and if you have any questions after, reach out to hospice and ask. If the first hospice agency you interview doesn't appeal to you - for whatever reason - then interview another and another until you find one that you and dad are comfortable with. If you "hire an agency and they aren't fulfilling their obligations - a.k.a. not communicating with you or answering your calls/questions, then you are within your rights to "fire" them and bring a different agency on board.
No one is going to be able to give you an exact time frame on how long dad has, not even hospice. But they will recognize signs that a layperson can easily miss - they did with me when my mom was in hospice. But they will send a nurse to check on dad, provide him with incontinent supplies and prescriptions, will send an aide several times a week for bathing, and give you access to a social worker and a member of the clergy if you/dad so desires. They can also provide volunteers who can sit with dad for a while should you need to run out briefly; I'm not sure how those volunteer programs are doing with Covid still lurking around. Hospice also provides support to the family who are caregiving for the patient. And hospice will provide your dad with a "comfort pack" - end of life medications for if/when the time comes that he needs them. While dad is on at-home hospice, a family member will be primarily responsible for administering those then the time comes, so whoever is taking care of dad will need to be able to give those medications.
Again, I'm sorry your family has to go through this. (((hugs)))
Hospice will have a nurse to come visit him once a week to start to check his vitals and such, and they're usually there about 45 minutes to an hour tops. They will also send aides to come bathe him about twice a week and that's about it.
They may have a volunteer that can come sit with him a few hours a week, but they're not allowed to do any care.
The upside is that they will supply any and all needed equipment like hospital bed, and Hoyer lift(since your dad is "very heavy")along with all supplies(diapers, pads, creams, etc.)and any needed medications all covered 100% under dads Medicare.
But still you guys will be doing all the hands on care. Are you prepared to do that? It may be best instead to have your dad brought to a long term care facility, where he will receive the 24/7 care he needs, and you can still have hospice involved while he's there.
I cared for my husband for the last 22 months of his life in our home and he was under hospice care the entire time, so I know what I'm talking about. I had to hire an aide to come in the mornings to put him on the bedside commode so he could poop. My husband had a permanent catheter so that made things easier from that perspective, but it was still A LOT of work for me.
I wish you the very best in getting this all figured out.