Get me some Hospice!

Wednesday was also a crazy day. We'd been waiting since Monday night for a hospice representative to come visit us. It didn't seem like it should have been taking so long because the hospice "business office" was only five doors down the hallway from Robin's hospital room.

Very early Wednesday morning (7am) I had confirmed with Robin that she did not want to spend another night in the hospital and so I switched gears to being "the aggressive patient advocate". At 8:00am I called the doctor's office (which is on the first floor of the hospital) and explained that we were ready to leave, then we mentioned it to several nurses between 8:00am and 9:00am, and then at 9:00am I went down to the doctor's office on the first floor to explain in person. In a way, it felt like I once again had an opportunity to actively support Robin's desires, though it had a strange feeling about it since we were now actively moving away from cancer treatment.

At 9:30 Wednesday morning I went down the hall to the business office and managed to find the hospice nurse who by now had Robin's chart on her desk. As sometimes happens, there was simply a lapse in communication but all the active "advocating" had helped moved the process along. The hospice representative met with us a couple of times throughout the day to discuss preparations for going home.

Late Wednesday afternoon I was meeting with the hospice nurse to review Robin's medications when I had this surreal feeling that we were now actively planning for Robin's death. I couldn't help but wonder how many people go through this experience, how a person could imagine how it feels, or even how one gets through it (although somehow you do get through it).

As it turned out the doctor eventually asked Robin to stay one more night anyway. In the meantime, we did to get one humorous offer from a nurse to help sneak Robin out Wednesday night in a wheelchair!