She has had acute, sub acute rehabs with little to know success. She is 10 months post ischemic stroke. She was not suppose to survive. Bedridden the entire time. An occasional wheelchair while in rehabs but not for a long period of time. She has been living with my family since June. Vitals are stable. Heart rate remains consistently high.
I'll spare you the details but my mom took to her bed after beating cancer. I think the enormity of what she had been through hit her hard once she got home from rehab. She stayed in bed the entire day and would get up around 7pm, long enough to drink an Ensure. She got up periodically to use the bathroom but since hardly anything was going in hardly anything was coming out. She refused to go to the hospital but one night when my dad called me because she had fallen, I lied and said that I couldn't lift her, that we'd have to call 911. After many tests done in the ER it was found that her electrolytes were extremely screwed up. This was not a result from her cancer but from laying in bed all day, not eating or drinking. She didn't survive. And while my dad told people she died of cancer I know what she really died from: apathy. She just lost the will to live.
Is your mom just not hungry? Is she taking in any fluids other than the Boost? Is she in bed? You can't force her to eat or drink, all you can do is encourage her.
When my mom was in bed all that time my aunt would call me screeching about having a feeding tube inserted into my mom's stomach. I couldn't think of anything more horrific and of course I didn't have this done.
Did hospice give you all kinds of information on the body and what different symptoms mean? We were given that kind of information when my dad was sick and I learned that when a certain point comes to pass the body doesn't need food anymore. With your mom being at risk for aspiration, not being able to eat even soft foods, Boost sounds like the only thing she can take in at this point.
She is talking the most and making some sense since the stroke. Amazing. She has been drinking only Boost for about a week and a 1/2 now.
Thank you so much for your responses. My gut tells me the end is near despite the sudden ability to speak.
Again, thank you for reading. I appreciate it so very much.
If we are all wrong the Boost will keep someone going for quite a while. It is only 500 calories but lying motionless does not take much energy.