Thank God for Hospice…
Long before I even understood what it was, I feel like EVERYONE started by saying… Thank God for Hospice.
Now I completely understand.
In January of 2017, my dad was diagnosed with Small Cell Lung Cancer and our whole lives changed forever.
After the initial shock and fear over the situation, we decided to fight the cancer head-on and enjoy every single second we had left no matter how long that was.
So, we embarked on a 21-month battle, finished 2 buckets lists and took advantage of every single good day.
Unfortunately, my dad made the decision to stop treatment after some serious complications arose and our situation drastically changed.
We found ourselves heading towards yet another new normal…
Thank God for Hospice…
As you can probably imagine, our first day of Hospice was pretty stressful.
Besides the fact that we weren’t actually expecting to be in this place, we were hypersensitive to everything! He hiccupped, but in our overstimulated state we thought he was having trouble breathing so my first response was “we need to call someone.” “Now”.
It’s a natural human response. If someone is having trouble breathing, you get help. You sit them down, you call an ambulance, you get medical attention…
You respond.
Have you ever been in a situation where your goal is to do the exact opposite of everything you know?
It is crazy stressful. Suddenly you’re working towards a goal you have been fighting against for so long. It’s like trying to put on a pair of jeans that are 3 sizes too small. It just doesn’t fit.
For 21 months we fought like hell to avoid the very place we found ourselves.
But now here we were…
Thank God, for Hospice. There is no way we would have made it through any of this without their support. They taught us everything we needed to know to survive this. They showed us how to deal with things we never would have figured out on our own and they made it look easy.
Hospice also provided us with counseling, religious support, and nursing assistance to help us through the worst ordeal of our lives. They were phenomenal.
Still, supporting a goal that is the complete opposite of everything you stand for (like helping people, caring about people, doing the right thing)…
It feels really, really strange.
You know in your heart that you’re doing the right thing, but it still feels wrong.
I wish I could give you the magic words that would make this easier, but there are none. Thank God for Hospice, they will help you through things you NEVER thought you could survive.
- Cry when you need to. We cried a lot, there is no getting around it.
- Watch out for blessings. I can feel you shaking your head, but I swear they happened. As things became more and more unaware and as we progressed through this… for us, when you sat down and held daddy’s hands, he would hold, squeeze and rub your hands back. It was something we will all keep with us, forever. It was amazing.
- Contact Hospice right away. They are unbelievably helpful. I can’t even imagine what this would have been like without them.
There is NO right way to handle any of this. The best advice I can give you is to just take a lot of deep breaths and keep going as best as you can. Thank God for Hospice, they will help you through especially when you’re not sure you can make it.
P.S. If you’re overwhelmed by all this cancer business, we can relate!
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