Choosing a Hospice
Many people mistakenly associate hospice only with sorrow and loss. In actuality, most hospice experience includes times of joy, peace and heartwarming closeness. People often comment that the hospice experience, although involving death, gives them a deeper understanding of life.
When a decision has to be made to go into hospice care either for yourself or for a loved one, it can be a difficult time. Patients and families may have spent months or even years concentrating on curative care designed to halt the disease process. Hospice becomes appropriate when the focus on curing is no longer supporting quality of life. Whether a patient comes to this decision on their own, or their doctors/family has encouraged them to consider it, the patient has decided they no longer want to spend any more of the time they have left seeking aggressive curative care.
Choosing hospice care does not mean someone has given up on life. In fact, it is a way to gain back a quality of life by carrying out your final days with a purpose.
