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Mom broke her hip and fractured her pelvis in 2 spots the 3rd week of January. She was in the hospital for about 13 days and was all set to transfer to a nursing/rehab home for physical therapy to get her up and moving again.


She refused to go because she claimed she was in so much pain (which I'm sure she was) and just wanted to go home and die. So they told my mom about hospice and that's what the nurse pushed on my sister and I. She made it seem like Mom wasn't that far from dying, so we agreed to this plan. Of course, I took her in as my sister (who has no health issues) felt it would be too stressful for her health. I have serious issues with my sibling as so many of you do, but that's life. I honestly think we should have pushed for her to go to rehab because she just might be mobile now if she had.


Mom has had no solid food for probably 10 days, however she drinks water daily. I crush her medicine and give it to her in about 1 tablespoon of yogurt. After a few spoonfuls, she sips some water. I then finish giving her the rest of the yogurt. After about 2-3 minutes, she throws it up. I'm wondering if this is because she's drinking water along with it? This has only been occurring this last week. I'll be sure to let the nurse know when she comes sometime this week, but I'd like to avoid the upchucking until then.

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You need to have this checked out.

No to be scary sounding, but at the end of dad's life, he would WANT to eat, maybe just soup or broth, but it would come right back up. His body was rejecting food as a sign of its shutting down.

We wound up just giving him popsicles and letting the liquid kind of run down his throat verrrrrry slowly. That he could usually keep down.

I hope you get some answers soon.

No good in rehashing what you 'should have' done. In rehab, they would have her on IV's for hydration. No doubt she is now severely dehydrated which actually makes keeping fluids down harder.

Is she in active Hospice? Once daddy was getting morphine, he was relaxed enough to keep 'more' fluids down. By more, I mean, maybe 12 ounces a day.
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Thanks for the tip on popsicles. I'll give that a try. We do have morphine on hand, but she refuses to take it due to the bitterness. When I give her a pain pill, I crush it and add 2 pkgs of Splenda to 1 tablespoon of yogurt. I really don't know at what stage of dying she's at and the hospice folk don't just tell me it's different for everyone. Mother's normal amount of food intake prior to her fall was 12 shredded wheat in 1/2 & 1/2 for breakfast, and then about 4-5 bites at dinner, so even when healthy, she barely ate.
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What medicine are you crushing for her? Make sure that the meds you are crushing are ok to be administered that way. Many say right on the bottle to not crush or break the capsule/tablet/pill. She may be getting too much at once and her stomach can't handle it. My husband's grandmother started vomiting after eating and she had cancer. Not to alarm you but just pointing out the vomiting could be many things and a call to her doc today should happen. The "crowd" can't diagnose the problem with any accuracy or surety. I hope you can find answers so she gets the help she needs.
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The pain pill may be the cause of the vomiting. Many pain meds are supposed to be taken with food, so as not to cause stomach upset.

Try the popsicle--red was the most flavorful--and when she is 'numbish' due to the cold, give her the morphine. Then follow up with more popsicle.

Do you also have access to Valium in cream/ointment form. Rubbing that on daddy's forearms where the skin is thin was really helpful. I would do that to help calm his agitation (then I'd rub the rest into my own hands as I would with hand lotion..it took me a few times to realize that I was dozing off sitting next to him having 'shared' a Valium rub :) If you don't have the Valium ointment, ask for some. It is not as strong as if it were ingested, but they do get a pretty decent dose through the skin.

I'm sorry for what you're going through. We did this with daddy and it was a learning curve, for sure.

Don't be too surprised if your mom never does regain her ability to 'eat' as you have expected in the past.
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Is she still having BMs? I would be concerned about an intestinal blockage.
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The pill is Oxycodine which she maybe takes 1-2 per day and it can be crushed. I've been giving it to her in yogurt for 6 weeks with no problem until the last few days. The Valium cream sounds great, but I don't have some. The only calming medicine (Lorazepam) I have knocks her out for a long time, so I don't really like to give it to her.

She is still having very, very minor BMs.

I'll be sure to mention all this to the nurse. Hopefully, she'll come tomorrow as they're short handed and aren't on a regular schedule except sometime once a week.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
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