Mesothelioma Treatment - Important Facts About Hospice Care

Hospice, when it was started, was a concept rooted in the centuries-old idea of offering a place of shelter and rest, or "hospitality" to weary and sick travelers on a long journey. Today, hospice care provides humane and compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable diseases like people with stage 3 and stage 4 mesothelioma cancer so that they can live their last days on earth as fulfilling and comfortable as possible.

Hospice is a philosophy of care. The hospice philosophy or viewpoint accepts death as the final stage of life. The goal of hospice is to enable patients to continue an alert, pain-free life and to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. Hospice affirms life and does not hasten or postpone death. Hospice care treats the person rather than the disease; it focuses on quality rather than length of life. Hospice care is family-centered care.

The patient and family are the ones making the decisions. Care is provided for the patient and family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hospice care can be given in the patient's home, a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Most hospice care in the United States is given in the home, with a family member or members serving as the main hands-on caregiver.

Hospice care is meant for the time when your cancer is so advanced that treatment will no longer give you any notable benefit, and you have a limited lifespan of less than six months left to live. Hospice offers you palliative care, which only helps to relive the mesothelioma cancer symptoms and not cure the cancer; its main purpose is to improve your quality of life. You, your family, and your doctor decide together when hospice cares should begin.

Cancer patients do not start hospice care early enough. Sometimes the doctor, patient, or family member will not want to start hospice because he or she thinks it means you're giving up, or that there's no hope. This is not true. If you get better or the cancer goes into remission, you can be taken out of the hospice program and go into active cancer treatment. You can go back to hospice care at a later time, if needed. The hope that hospice brings is the hope of a quality life, making the best of each day during the last stages of advanced illness.

These are some important points about hospice care:

-They are a team of professionals

In most cases, an interdisciplinary health care team manages hospice care. This means that many interacting disciplines work together to care for the patient. Doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, home health aides, clergy, therapists, and trained volunteers care for you. Each of these people offers support based on their special areas of expertise. Together, they then give you and your loved ones complete palliative care aimed at relieving symptoms and giving social, emotional, and spiritual support.

They offer pain and symptom control

Pain and symptom control helps you to live the remainder of your life as comfortable as possible thus allowing you to stay in control of and enjoy your life. This means that side effects are lowered to an extent that you are as free of pain and symptoms as possible, yet still alert enough to enjoy the people around you and make important decisions.

They offer spiritual support

Hospice care also tends to your spiritual needs. Since people differ in their spiritual needs and religious beliefs, spiritual care is set up to meet your specific needs. It may include helping you to look at what death means to you, helping you say good-bye, or helping with a certain religious ceremony or ritual.

Home care and inpatient care