The Beat Goes On!

Well, yesterday sure was interesting. Liz started pursuing the hospice path at 8:00 a.m., and by 11:00 a.m. we had someone here at the house getting the paperwork signed and equipment ordered and the like.  Talk about efficient! Our family doctor had already communicated his referral for this step, and the company we chose (VITAS) lost no time in getting started.

Nice discoveries:

1) They take care of all drug prescription, ordering and delivery to our house for anything related to hospice care;

2) Once they detemined the medical equipment needed (wheelchair, shower chair, bedside table, oxygen concentrator and refiller, etc.) they simply had the stuff delivered here within 3 hours;

3) There really are medical people who treat the person and not some academic view of what the person may need--the scientists at MD Anderson are great scientists, but their approach to delivering medical services is very proscriptive and not very personal...these guys are just the opposite;

4) 24 hour service literally means 24 hour service...they have done this before so they set things up to be able to respond to our needs at any time of the day or night (for example, we have an "emergency" kit that contains ramped up drugs etc. to be used in case of a crisis--you call them up and they tell you to break out the emergency kit and use this or that to address the issue.  Of course, I haven't had to use this yet, but I like the understanding and obvious contingency planning that this implies;

5) They provide quarterbacking and reporting for our primary care physician...he's in the loop but doesn't have to be involved with every care decision;

6) The whole shebang is 100% covered by insurance-including drugs, etc.-with no deductibles, no co-pays, etc.

The best thing about it so far is that they haven't brought a maudlin "deathwatch" attitude to this, but rather they've emphasized that this is our way of handling the next phase of my illness for its duration...no matter how long that may be.

A little dignity and a few good drugs...about all a guy needs these days!