Hello ,I have been re directed here but I have been a member for a while now and spend my days reading and crying at your posts ,I now find I need your help so here is my story .
My 89 year old Father was diagnosed with non treatable asbestos related lung cancer 18 months ago , he has had no actual treatment and has been at home with us until 6 weeks ago when he was taken in for a weeks respite ,mainly for my mum and I (no siblings ) to have a break ,that weeks break turned into 3 weeks as on his first night he fell and we were called to go to him @ 1 am .Because there was no DRs on that evening the paramedics were called as he had hit his head ,to cut a long story short they finally arrived @ 9-30 am and it was decided he was ok and did not have to travel 50 miles for a brain scan .
So what was supposed to be a weeks respite we ended up going to the hospice twice a day not that we minded as my Father still has all his faculties.
After 3 weeks he came home on a Thursday with a chest infection ,on the Monday we called his GP and he suggested he went back to the Hospice ,which he did , he's been on antibiotics ,oxygen and a nebulizer ,but here is what has upset us ..on Monday just gone a week after re admission the hospice say they have done all they can for him and think he should either return home or go into a nursing home ,even though it wont be for long , we were absolutely gobsmacked and so upset and to top it all yesterday Tuesday he fell again when taking himself to the loo because he thought the staff were too busy , he has hurt and grazed his back but they are still preparing to discharge him ,we don't know what to do ,Palliative care nursing homes in our area are far and few between and the ones they have contacted are full and after 18 months of nursing my Dad ,my 85 yr old Mum and I do not think we would be able to cope especially during the night , we did have a Marie Curie nurse for one night but they are really in short supply. Macmillan nurses are not available in our area .I am also trying to hold down a full time job ,my boss has been very understanding but I do not want to abuse his kindness and have thought about getting the Dr to sign me off but I was hoping I wouldn't need to do this until the absolute very end of my Dads life .
What I am needing to know is has anyone else experienced having a loved one discharged from a Hospice at the end of life ?
Thank you for reading x
