By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington. Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services. APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid. We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour. APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment. You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints. Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or
[email protected] to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights. APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.I agree that: A.I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information"). B.APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink. C.APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site. D.If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records. E.This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year. F.You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
*If I am consenting on behalf of someone else, I have the proper authorization to do so. By clicking Get My Results, you agree to our
Privacy Policy. You also consent to receive calls and texts, which may be autodialed, from us and our customer communities. Your consent is not a condition to using our service. Please visit our
Terms of Use. for information about our privacy practices.
The pacemaker did not cure her CHF, nor did it extend her life. When she went onto hospice, we had the defibrillator part of the pacemaker deactivated - a very easy, non-invasive, procedure done in her cardiologist's office.
When she had the procedure, they used very (and I do mean very) light anesthesia - she said she was awake for the entire thing but numbed so she felt nothing.
You should have a conversation with whichever doctor is recommending this - both the pros and the cons of the procedure, as well as what death will "look like" when she gets to that point.
I was in favor of her having the procedure done, simply because of her increased risk of stroke, and the possible complications that would arise from it should it have happened and she survived it.
You really don't want her getting anesthesia either. It could make her cognitive decline worse. Me, I would rather have my mind longer. The discomfort afterwards and the poking and proding.
Is aunt mobile?
If she is mobile, I would give her the pacer.
If she is bed-bound, I would not.
Is she on meds that reduce the pulse? If so, I would modify or stop meds and see how her pulse responded. My DH aunt was on two. NO DOCTOR told me this. And she had good doctors. One a geriatric primary she still uses. I found out by chance.
After removing the chief culprit, her pulse returned to normal.
Now this didn’t happen overnight. It slowly decreased her pulse. I was working with juggling her BP meds to keep it above 40. In her case it was the Metoprolol I juggled (with drs help). But two or three years later when I stopped the Aricept and then Namenda, the pulse returned to normal. So now she takes the metoprolol each day, no problem and no pacer.
I really wish she had some better bonus time than what she is currently enduring. Maybe for some elderly this is a huge improvement and results in more enjoyment of life. In my mother's case it isn't.
I would request Hospice.
It sounds like this is the decision she would make.
Have you talked to her about it or does she grasp the situation?
🙏
Be very sure the pacemaker has benefits that outweigh your concerns, know the fluid build up is inevitable, know to shop hospice agencies if that is what you choose as they are not all equal, and know that she can be kept comfortable as the meds of hospice are compassionate and effective. I wish you both peace
True stories lady in her late 90s ( 98), had a medical setback. The priest came to talk to her, she said she was ready to go, and so she did on Christmas night.
Another one bedbound male resident in a room no window to see storms, sun, snow, just a darkened corner of the room. He definitely was ready to go ( and did) because he ate what he wanted and really had given up. Both residents are at peace.
I do not personally see how they feel that a pacemaker would help her CHF overmuch. CHF is basically heart failure-- left, right or both. So I would ask for all of that to be drawn out for me in great detail. As in "Could you be very specific for me the ways in which you feel a pacemaker would help my Aunts Congestive heart failure".
Other than a heart transplant or valve surgery, there's no cure for a failing heart. Usually the treatment is diuretics to keep fluid off the lungs and the peripheral areas. Often measurements of labs are required because these diuretics wash out electrolytes along with fluids, so they are sometimes not given in Hospice situation.
I personally would choose palliative and hospice care. You MAY be prolonging life. You may not be. Pacers work on the "electro-mechanical systems" of the heart if you will; they trigger heart beats, are set to slow or regulate heart beats, are sometimes used to maintain heartbeats at a certain level when medications that lower rates are used in increasing dosages.
You might consider doing a bit of your own research. Look up "pacemaker for congestive heart failure" and so on.
You know your Aunt's wishes better than we do, hopefully. And from what you say I would be doing no procedures that could prolong life.
Last year they offered to put a pacemaker in my FIL for bradycardia to help control CHF . It wasn’t going to buy him that much time so he declined . He had so many other issues as well .No point in prolonging his suffering .
I'm sure it's hard to make that kind of decision on your own.
Best of luck to you
My mother at age 94 had very little quality of life, mobility and toileting issues. She was a shut in and had not left the house except for doctors appointments. When She was unconscious in the hospital after a cardiac episode my father gave authorization for her to receive a pacemaker.
It really did nothing to improve her situation. She still is not mobile and cannot toilet herself and is very depressed. sShe can linger like this indefinitely because she has no other life threatening health problems.
She was home when she received the pacemaker. She is in a NH now and can be there for years because of this thing.
So based on my experience I wouldn’t do it. It is not humane.
I’d be scared too getting a pacemaker..