Boogie-town

Years ago, Valjean started thinking about what her old age might be like. No placid retirement village or assisted living facility for her. She would gather a group of compatible friends, and together they would buy a large, cheap building in an underdeveloped neighborhood -- I think she imagined Englewood at the time -- renovate it, and create Boogie-town, a community where she could keep on dancing, talking, and gettin' down all night.

Seasons Hospice is no Boogie-town. It's a quiet environment, with clean floors, freshly painted walls, tolerable food, and very nice staff; it looks like she's being well cared for. But the rooms are small, with few amenities, and she has a roommate who seems barely there (and who I hope is not bothered by VJ's visitors). It's not a place you'd really choose to spend your final weeks, if you had a choice.

Valjean may have a choice. The medical director, Dr. Amin, saw her this morning, and Mary talked with him afterwards. He told her they would try to maintain Valjean at an oxygen level and medications that would make possible a transition to home, maybe next week. He said that because of the complexity of managing her symptoms, home hospice would send a nurse daily rather then 3 times a week, and she would also need 24-hour care, possibly from a nurse (LPN or RN) rather than a home aide. He repeated what Ken had told us a few days ago: if Valjean does go home, there is always the option of returning to inpatient care if needed.

Dr. Amin said one other thing that I debated whether or not to put on the blog, but I think it's important. He said that her big issue now is anxiety. Hospice is doing what they can to manage this with medications, especially to make sure she doesn't experience "air hunger." What her friends can do is be as supportive as possible. And part of that is starting to let her go.