Opinions? Father in hospice...

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Hi everyone,

I am a nurse (but not hospice), and am dealing with my father who has been in hospice for two days now, following a two week hospitilization for thyroid storm and aspiration pneumonia, and also has end stage Parkinson's.

From your experience, how much time do you think Dad has until he makes peace? He is not getting any hydration/nutrition, and is 59 years old. He was on continuous IV fluids the whole time he was in the hospital. He is pretty much sleeping the whole time, but has moments where he gets agitated (or could just be a manifestation of his Parkinson's). He does not communicate, but squeezes our hands.

thank you everyone. They say nursing is a calling, but now having the hospice experience, I can definitely say that hospice nursing is a calling.

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59 is awfully young. I think it's generally a week of no fluid, or a month of no food that are the normal limits of survival. But I had a female patient long ago that went just over 3 1/2 weeks without a single drop of fluid, not a single calorie of nutrition. (During her last week she developed uremic frost from head to toe- and as soon as she was bathed, it would reappear. I've never seen that since). It sounds like your Dad is in no anguish or pain, which is the goal, so that's good. But there are far too many variables at play for people to make even educated guesses as to when he'll 'make peace', including his will to live. It can be agonizing to watch this process, for sure.

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Specializes in ICU, step down, dialysis.

Per our Terms of Service, we cannot offer advice. Thread closed.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I an so sorry that your family us experiencing this...((HUGS)) but DiDi is right we cannot offer medical advice as per the Terms of Service

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