What does Long Term Care mean to me?

Well, the first thing that comes across my mind is nursing home care or assisted living care for the elderly or chronic ill patients that are unable to provide the common services for themselves like cooking, bathing, taking medications or even just cleaning, however Long Term Care to me can also could include home health, adult day care and hospice care. It is inevitable that we are all getting older and many of us will need to utilize long term care facilities or services, whether we choose to or not. It also is important to remember that LTC also deals with patients much younger who have chronic illnesses, however most are elderly. A couple of personal examples in dealing with LTC services stay vivid in my mind pertain to both an elderly and young.

The last picture taken with Granny at the nursing home.

My first example left me in gloom. I had my husband’s grandmother pass just recently. I can remember it clearly. We loaded into the van driving to the nursing home to visit her one last time, knowing that it would probably be the last time. When we arrived, we walked the halls to get to the room and several of the residents were just sitting in their wheel chairs starring at the walls, some with drool going down their faces. The smell of urine was incredibly strong. When we got to her room she was in the fetal position laying on her bed, all skin and bones. She had not been able to eat for weeks and slowly her body was starting to shut down. The food that was besides her was all blended to help her eat better, however it looked terrible. I don’t think I would want to eat it either. It was a memory of a nursing home that I try to forget, however is very difficult to erase from my memory. In the end I was happy to see my family put a smile on her face when we walked into her small room. Sadly, a couple of days later she passed away at the age of 93. RIP

This second example of dealing with LTC is quite different Long Term Care not only consists of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, but it also deals with hospice care which consists of helping with chronically ill patients. Around a year ago a friend of mine had a young son who was diagnosed with a brain tumor called ATRT. It was a rare tumor with low success rates. Unfortunately he was referred to hospice care due to the relentless growth of the brain tumor. He was in the best of care at St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the doctors did everything possible to try to save this boy. Sadly, even three surgeries strong chemo drugs along with direct radiation treatments did not stop the cancer from growing. So hospice was called in to give him the best quality of life possible that he had left. Not only did I see how great the hospice services were with helping with the boy’s pain management while the tumor took over, I also got to see how they helped the entire family with counseling in deal with the grief of having a terminal ill child. They were the extra shoulder to lean on, and they were always there with comforting words to the very end. A totally different experience I will never forget. Big Ben may you RIP with all the other angels. (To read more about his story and his courageous fight please visit his site http://www.bigben.com/ ).

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