I apologize for all these questions, but I don't feel like I have anyone else to ask.
My cousin gave his father the prescribed 0.5 mg dose of Ativan for the first time around 2 pm and his father is still asleep as of 12:55 am. He was given Morphine (5 mg) around 12:15 pm and it didn't seem to have much affect.
Should we wake him up or let him sleep? It seems like since this is hospice care that he should just be left in his seemingly peaceful sleep. What if he's still asleep at 8 am? Or 1 pm? Do we change his diaper or let him just sleep? Call the nurse line?
He was given Morphine because the home health aide was coming to bathe him after a suppository went horribly wrong (bless that aide for coming on short notice).
The Ativan was given because he had been awake and talking/hallucinating for well over 12 hrs. We were not told it would cause him to sleep so long, especially since it says to give every 6 hrs.
You need to talk to the Hospice people about it.
Regardless yes, change him and reposition him. Allowing him to stay in the same position for long periods of time predisposes him to pressure ulcers. Allowing him to stay in a soiled diaper (God I hate that word when using it on adults) is not good for his skin and will cause breakdown.
Very frustrating.
But what you need now is basically a hospice nurse. Please write down all your questions and have them ready. If you cannot reach someone at this hospice care then that is of great concern.
Still waiting for a call from a hospice nurse. We're actually going to call and cancel it, they've wasted enough of our day. We didn't know that the Ativan would/could knock someone out for that long.
He said he had a good sleep and would like to sleep like that again. I asked if he prefers to be asleep or awake and he said, "awake," but he sleeps a lot anyway. We're not sure when or if he should have the Ativan again. Should it be given if he starts groaning? Since family is finally coming to visit, we're thinking of only giving him a quarter tablet instead of the whole 0.5 mg.