Grief comes in many forms for many different reasons. We often associate grief with death, but we can suffer grief after any type of loss — divorce, estrangement, imprisonment, job loss. When patients enter hospice care at Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Austin, they and their family members are often struggling with some level of grief.
Sometimes the dying process is quick, and other times it is protracted. In hospice care, it often follows a similar path: A patient is diagnosed with a long-term illness, they fight valiantly, and unfortunately at some point it becomes clear that they will not win.
While many patients arrive at this stage, only some enter hospice care. The reasons for this are many.
Deciding to Enter Hospice
Many patients welcome medical interventions until the very end, either hoping for a turnaround regarding their condition, or being comforted by the knowledge that they fought as hard as they could. The speed of a disease’s progression does not always allow patients the time to mull over their choices. But sometimes it does.
Cancer patients and others with long-term illnesses often become exhausted by the fight. The nausea, fatigue and other symptoms do not seem worth the trouble after a while. These patients have accepted the fact that the disease will ultimately win and they will die, and they have made the decision to die on their own terms.
Hospice Care in Austin
Hospice patients do not receive medications intended to prolong their lives; they only receive medications to relieve pain. What we see with our patients here in Austin and at our other facilities is that while this decision is extremely difficult, it often eventually brings a sense of peace.
The grief that patients and their family members suffer once the decision to enter hospice care is made is expected. Prior to the decision, the patient and family may be full of anxiety, fear and apprehension. Every day they look for signs of the illness waxing or waning. This is a draining process. Illness naturally waxes and wanes, and the rise and fall of hope can be excruciating.
Because patients and family members sometimes view entering hospice as “giving up,” or at least a type of crossroads, grief often accompanies this reckoning. But in time, as the anxiety over the fate of the patient’s condition abates and the patient begins to feel better physically because they are no longer on life-saving medication, the grief lifts a bit and is replaced with a new sense of calm.
Suncrest Home Health and Hospice
At Suncrest Home Health and Hospice of Austin, our hospice nurses, home health aides, social workers, spiritual advisors and others are well-trained in grief counseling. For more advice about dealing with grief regarding a terminal illness or information about hospice care in Austin, contact us.
