For a loved one who has undergone all sorts of treatment options, yet the treatments have proved to be medically futile for them, you can sign them up for hospice care. A terminally ill disease is one where the patient is expected to meet his end soon. You can go for various kinds of care for your patient. If you do not feel like going for hospice care you can also take care of them at home. The comfort of the home’s environment will be soothing for them.
Anyone can be a victim of a terminally ill disease from a child to an old-aged woman. These patients require love and support from their loved ones. Furthermore, there are many kinds of terminally ill diseases such as dementia.
Nevertheless, here’s how to take care of patients with dementia as well as certain things that you need to remember in order to save them from any traumatic pain in their last days:
Be Truthful to the Patient
You should never ask the physician of your loved one to lie about their condition to them until and unless it can cause them any sort of excruciating emotional harm. If the patient is mentally stable and has any end-stage disease, then you can ask the doctor to deliver the information to them over some time and by calibrating the details to soften the blow. If your mom or dad or whoever the patient is, demands to know about their condition, you can not keep lying to them.
At times, people have certain last wishes that they want to fulfill before they die. And this misleading information can cause that task to never happen.
Ask Them What Option Do They Sometimes Want
Sometimes families tend to impose their decisions on their loved ones. This leads to the patient getting the treatment they never wanted or in some cases, the patient does not get the treatment they would have wanted. So, always consider what option your loved one wants to choose along with all the other things they wish to have during these last days.
Maintain Their Dignity
Though they are on their deathbed, you still need to consider them as the same human beings as they were before. So, you need to respect their privacy as much as any other person’s. If you are giving them a sponge bath or changing their clothes, keep the door closed and a curtain drawn all around them, so that they do not feel exposed.
The second most important thing in maintaining their privacy is never to talk about their condition in front of others while they are in the same room. Hearing about themselves in a manner of pity will cause them pain. So, avoid that at all costs.
Show Them Your Availability
If you are the closest person to them, or if you have decided to take care of them, then be there. Make them your primary focus for whatever time is left for them. If you can not be there 24/7, then make sure that someone is present with them at all times. Watch their favorite shows with them holding their hands or read a book to them while sipping on a hot cup of tea.
Keep Them Stress-Free
Share old memories with them and keep them happy. Take their mind off of any pain or stress they might be taking and make them enjoy life on a new level. If your loved one is a child, make them spend their childhood like any other kid of their age. Talk about their condition in school so that other children are warned to not make fun of their appearances and stuff.
Keep Your Options Open for Palliative Care
Terminally ill patients have the option to go for palliative care. It is a type of medical treatment that can not cure the disease but can greatly reduce the symptoms of the disease. This can help the patient get relieved from extra pain and discomfort. Thus, if the physician asks you to go for any sort of palliative option, you should look up them.
Your loved ones need you the most during this phase of their life. Be gentle and compassionate towards them. Give them respect and show them that they still mean a lot to you. Fulfill all their wishes in their last days and if possible take them to mini-vacations or the beach or a weekend getaway at the family cottage in the woods. Make them realize their importance in your life so that their last days are all happy.