JulieBean2U

As a hospice nurse, I can tell you that there usually is a "pulling back" days or hours before death. I believe in my heart that the immenently dying patient can hear and feel right up to the point of death. I have seen touch and voice calm a person's respirations and ease their pain. And even if this is false, what is the harm? It may only be a comfort to the loved ones. So be it. But for all the deaths I have witnessed, I truly believe in the theory that the patient is receptive until the end. As for the moment of passing, I have never seen or felt a soul leaving. But I have watched as a person dies and can see a change in their appearance at the moment of death. Hope this helps!

Lynn- I really feel for you. My son is now 13 and just came home in Novenber after spending 3 years living in a residential PMIC program for children. He was hearing voices, telling him to hurt himself, told me that sometimes he would stand over me while I was sleeping and want to hurt me, and countless other nightmare things. He has been on darn near everything. Ritalin, Adderall. Paxil, Effexor, and was finally diagnosed with ADHD, and schizoeffective disorder. He is now on Lithobid, Clozapine, and Depakote. He falls asleep all the time in school unless I give him Mountain Dew for breakfast. He sleeps so hard at night that he has to be on DDAVP for bedwetting. We have managed to get his symptoms under control, but at the price of new ones. I used to feel like a pushy nurse when I asked too many questions and wanted rationale for medication use, along with time to research it myself before consenting to it's use. Now I know from experience that sometimes drugs aren't fully understood by those who try to prescribe them, and sometimes used indescriminately out of carelessness. Advocate for your child, and when you have to, roar like the mother bear!!! Best of luck to you.

Nurses ROCK when it comes to gross stories!!!! I have two short but gross ones..... Had a thirtysomething man in for wound care and IV abo therapy. He was about 6 and 1/2 feet tall, approw 350 lbs, and very rarely showered. He had scabbed and infected areas over his whole body. They never got any better and in desperation the M.D. ordered the wounds to be scrubbed with betadine 3x per day. The Doc knew something he forgot to tell the nurses, but we soon found out. The reason the wounds weren't healing is because the patient had a habit of CULTIVATING, HARVESTING, AND EATING HIS SCABS!!!!!He began refusing woundcare because the betadine changed the FLAVOR OF THE SCABS!!!! EWWWWW!!!! The second story is about an immobile patient who was unable to speak. She had chronic ear infections and one day began draining yellow pus from her ears. The CNA came and got me and we turned her on her side so I could look in her ears. Out tumbled tons of smelly maggots! When we turned her the other way, the same thing happened to the other ear. I flushed until clear, and you know what? She NEVER had another ear infection!

Just a little addendum to my big speech above....I took a break from Hospice work in October, and have really missed it. Been doing Agency work and am currently doing a school-nurse kind of position for a day camp for medically fragile children. After I replied to your inquiry, it really struck home how much I missed doing hospice. After I left, I kept thinking about my patients, meaning to stop by and see them, especially one who had been assigned to me for over a year. The day after Christmas, I got a call from a former co-worker, and that long-term patient had passed away. It's time to get back to where I belong. Any nurse thinking about entering Hospice work should be prepared to have a life-changing experience, and be prepared to follow that path. As for me, I jumped right into the classifieds and now have a new hospice job! YEAHHHHH! LOL........JulieBean2U:roll :roll

Part of the reason I went in to home hospice nursing was the realization that I yearned to spend more time with the dying patient when working in hospitals/nursing facilities. With a heavy patient load, I was constantly torn between providing spiritual and emotional support to the dying patient and loved ones, and doing the hundreds of tasks for others that keep nurses sooooo busy. When I finally went to hospice care, so much stress fell away that the menial tasks became a joy to provide. It is amazing how quickly one becomes part of a family's inner circle, and how fast trust is acheived in the home setting. I have had a chance to truly see how important and significant each individual patient is, and to affirm their life's significance. I have had the privilage to walk away with a little piece of each person's life, whether it be a patient or a loved one. I'm aware of how long this reply is getting, but I feel compelled to convey this to anyone considering hospice work. It changed my life and made me a better and more "whole" person. The death process is not just the end of a persons life, it is the most important. You have the honor to be one of the last friends, last listener, last student, etc. WOW! I keep a hospice scrapbook of all the patients I have comforted, loved, and then lost. I let them know before their passing that they have touched one more life and will be leaving behind one more person who will never forget them. When I near my own end, I'll be hoping for that also.