I met with Ping Ye, one of Mam’s doctor and Wendy the case worker and the nurse admin Tracy. Ping Ye did most of the talking.
She explained to me a few cases where a palliative care already in place might help. For example:
- One of the nurse finds Mam having very low oxygen level. She would have to urgently call the doctor on call and make a quick decision as to whether to send Mam to the hospital. Not having palliative care in place might just stress everybody out. Maybe they would even do something that might stress Mam unnecessarily.
- If Mam gets a pneumonia, without the palliative care in place, the nurses might be acting more aggressively in curing Mam, instead of just providing comfort. In some cases, the right treatment for someone not in palliative care would be to send her to the hospital. But in Mam’s case, that might not be the right choice.
I think I understand what they’re trying to do. Nevertheless, I feel somewhat unease with this. I understand the purpose of palliative care is to let nurses and staff know what to do in case of emergency or acute situation. But I fear that Mam might be neglected on day to day basis just because of her palliative status. I fear that they would make decision on things first before notifying me.
I have stressed these to the case worker: I want the communication to still flow to me as soon as possible, when Mam falls into an acute condition. I want the day to day care to not be reduced.
I signed the paperwork today. Mam is officially under palliative care. Let’s see if I notice any of her care getting worse.
