Mom is losing 5% of her weight every month because she refuses to eat most of the time. She is 87 has end stage dementia. She is on hospice at a memory care facility and has developed two small bedsores on her bottom in the last two days. They are going to make sure she is repositioned every two hours and have her lay down periodically throughout the day to relieve pressure. I'm worried this is the beginning of the end, but know they are doing all the things they need to do to try keep them from worsening. I just don't know how they can heal when she is pretty much on a starvation diet at this point. I don't know that I need advice, I think I'm more just asking if I am right in assuming this will probably only get worse from here. I am realistic that my mom is going to die, and probably sooner than later, but I just don't know how quickly this will change things, and I don't want her to be in pain.
Make sure you have frequent communication with the hospice nurse. It is their job to keep your mom as comfortable as possible. Not just with meds, but they should be treating the pressure sores and doing as much as possible to prevent these from getting worse or getting infected. CNA's should be changing her briefs frequently to keep the skin dry and applying a barrier cream and repositioning her every few hours, propping her on her side with pillows.
If she is not eating, this will not go on for long. Make sure to spend the time with her that you want, and to say everything you want to say to her.
Now, there are Kennedy sores and they are from the skin starting to break down and is a sign the body is shutting down.
And if your mom now has bedsores on her bottom it may very well be Kennedy ulcers which are usually fatal, so yet another thing to ask the hospice nurse about.
The purpose of hospice is to make sure that the person under their care is as comfortable and pain free as possible when they die, so just make sure they're doing their job in doing just that.