Hospice

I know this is hard for my family, I think my MIL is awaiting celestial check out.  She's not improving and the doc is recommending hospice and frankly she looks just like my dad before he passed on.

The husband thinks she's most coherent after she first wakes up in the morning.  I haven't seen her in the morning so I can't comment on how lucid she is.  I've talked to her on the phone and she seems to hear fine when you talk to her on phone but she doesn't quite connect with everything you are saying.  Almost but not quite.  

In person, she is talking to people who are not there (or not in my world anyway) so she might answer a question correctly but then she asks or tells the invisible person something that might relate to what you asked/said to her.

Like she told me we needed to get ready to go to dinner with all of her friends that were there.  I asked where we were going to dinner.  She said that she didn't really know but everyone was getting hungry so we needed to get ready fast.  So mostly she understands input but her output is not right.

Her breathing is labored, not like she's got chest/lung problems but her mouth is open so her chin is on her chest and she's gasping sort of.  Not good.  

Research on the web points towards end of life stages.  The kids are scrambling to coordinate all the things they need to coordinate.  

It's going to be a tough time I think.  

I'm thinking she needs music and just for us to answer her whatever she expects to hear.  Not getting her riled up at all.