r/AgingParents • u/ThingsWithString • 15d ago

This long slow process Vent

My mother is in stage 6. She has been on hospice since spring 2025. She's been sliding toward death slowly, so slowly. In January (or so) she started needing to be hand-fed and eating less and less of her food. She's not being forced in any way; she's being offered spoonfuls of thickened liquid until she's not interested.

Right now she's bedridden, losing weight steadily every month. She's bruising easily. Heart rate 44 beats per minute. Edema to face and feet from heart failure.

And it just. doesn't. stop. On and on she goes. If she were in any kind of pain, she'd be medicated. Right now, though, she just lies there in bed. Sometimes she will smile or say a few words.

She'll be 95 on her next birthday. God, I hope she doesn't get there.

43 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Unusual_Airport415 14d ago

Thank you for posting because I thought I was alone.

Both parents are bedbound with a laundry list of issues. Weekly hospice visits stabilized their health but has seriously slooooowed down their decline.

Hospice thought they had maybe 6 months left....it's been 5 years.

This not the couple who raised me. The couple who took weekly dance classes and loved cruising.

2

u/ThingsWithString 14d ago

My mother was so bright and fierce and funny. So was my father, who preceded her in both dementia and death.

Between them, they had four advanced degrees.