Friday, August 31, 2012

A Brief Follow-up and a Change in Perspective

I don't think I mentioned in my report on Monday's visit that Mom was confused about her morphine schedule. She took her first pill at 9:30 am and was supposed to take another one four hours later. Except that she got confused and took it at 11:30. (Just the kind of trick that Sister Morphine likes to pull!) As the hour got closer to the scheduled dosage time of 1:30, Mom started thinking that it she took another pill, she would be back on schedule. (Sister Morphine again!) It took a good deal of persuasion on my part to convince her that it would be better to wait until 5:30.

When Susan talked to Alice, Marilyn (and John's) longtime caregiver, Alice said that one of the things she didn't like about hospice was the way they pushed the morphine. Alice and I were both concerned about overuse of the morphine, but now I realize that we were concerned because we were thinking about addiction in a long term perspective.

Hospice does away with the long-term, so does it matter how much morphine Mom takes as long as it is palliative?

Hospice took her off of Lipitor. It has some nasty side-effects that make you feel lousy and weak. Long term cholesterol build up is no longer a concern.

If it makes her feel better, do it!

Tuesday, they changed her prescription. Dosage was increased and she now takes one time-release pill every 12 hours, one in the morning and one in the evening. It's off the bedside table and into her daily meds.

And that seems smart.

3 comments:

  1. I think the proper address is "Sister Morphine." And when I'm at Mother's stage of life, I plan to embrace her (Sister M, not Mom) and the healthy weed. Mom's morphine helps her breathe.

    She did give me a memorable quote today. She was talking about her confusion about her dosages and how she doubted her memory about when she'd taken her last dose.

    She said, "Doubting yourself. That has not been a trait of mine."

    No shit.

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