man I come back and everyone scatters.... whats up with that.....hey ava notice the crack is back !!!!!!

Thank you very much to all for your words of encouragement, prayer and advice. Ya'll are the best!!

I do have a question for those of you that have had experience with hospice... I may be wrong, but I thought hospice was only used for people that were extremely ill and/or actively dying. My father is very ill, but he is still able to feed, dress and bathe himself, so he does not need 100% care at this time. What I do have to do is take him and my mother to doctor's appointments, buy their groceries, go to the bank, help clean the house, and other errands that need to be done. So, I thought at this point, hospice is not going to be available for us.

However, we found out yesterday that dad will have surgery this Thursday to have access ports installed for kidney dialysis. This is something we've been trying to avoid, but his kidneys are only functioning at 9% out of 100%, which obviously is not good. He is very upset about this, but if he does nothing, his kidneys will continue to decline and things will only get worse. With dialysis, he has a chance of feeling better, and although we know his days on earth are limited, he will hopefully feel much better during the days he has left.

I do hope there is some kind of "support" that is available to us once his dialysis starts. He will need dialysis 4 times a week, which is going to put a serious strain on my time. Right now, I'm off work, but my job kicks back into full swing the third week of August, and I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in unless I never sleep!! I don't get enough sleep as it is!!

Anyhoo - it's early a.m., I've only had about 3 hours of sleep, and I've got to shower and get ready to take mom to the doctor today - then I'll be with dad from Thursday until probably Sunday at the hospital. I will check back in with you guys as soon as I can. I hope the above email makes sense - I'm too bleary eyed and sleepy to be able to read back through it for errors.....DO'H!!

Love you guys - thanks for all the support and advice....

HH,
My 3rd stepmother (yeah...dad LIKED getting married) did her dialysis at home. Also check into visiting nurse services (home visits) for when he needs dialysis. I don't know what Medicare/medicaid will cover but this would save $ as opposed to the cost of hospital dialysis. You may have to invest some time in MAKING them see it your way but, it would be worth it. Good luck...I'm not familliar with services in your area but there should also be county health services you can look into too. Greek

PS...if nothing else, arrange for someone to come in once (at least) a week, you are gonna need a break, you can't do it all.

You a hospital social worker? And you KNOW?? yay!

The social workers and case managers here in the hospital I work out of and any other hospital I've worked with know nothing..or maybe they act like they know nothing and refer everything to ME!

Thanks for the info, once again. Ladybug, I didn't have time to thoroughly read the link you posted - it's 4:00 a.m. and I have to leave shortly to get dad to the hospital. He is having the access ports installed today, and will be in the hospital until Saturday or Sunday. He was given only 3 months to live since he has kidney failure and cancer, but now that he's going to try dialysis, that might reverse some of the kidney damage, so his prognosis is unknown at this point in time.

However, nobody ever mentioned that home dialysis was possible, and that is certainly something I want to know more about. While we are in the hospital this week, a social worker is supposed to come by and meet with us about dad's treatment options. So hopefully, I'll get one of the smart one's like Ladybug!!

Thanks again - I'll check back in as soon as I can.............

Hugs to all..........

Thoughts and prayers and a big hug to you, Henderson. Hope your dad's procedure goes well.

Another service to investigate/consider is called "respite care". It's a little different from hospice in that it provides short-term stuff like someone to come in so you can go to the store or just get fresh air, etc. Your social worker, or county social services, or even the hospice people, might have information for you. I know I've read this thread a couple of times - is there anyone from your dad's church who can help out in any way?