Balancing Act

My sister Kim will be joining us Sunday (for about ten days), so there will be three of us in the house to keep an eye on Robin. There is always at least one person in the room with her.

This last week when considering all the hospice services we've declined so far, I'd given thought to what our priorities are for Robin's care. The top four boiled down to:

1. Keeping her safe
2. Keeping her comfortable
3. Keep her healthy (e.g. avoiding infections to her stomach tube)
4. Maintaining her sense of independence

The hospice folks have been really wonderful working with us to keep up Robin's independence (or at least the appearance of it). They've been very flexible in delivering services to us, even some services that they wouldn't normally do in home. For instance, they prefer to admit patients to the hospital when getting them started on IV methadone.

Anyway, we'll be carefully reconsidering their offer to have folks in the house for extended periods (16 to 24 hours a day). Of all the things "essential to Robin" her independence is pretty high on the list, but we'll need to balance that with an assessment of our personal ability to keep her safe.