[Bill]

Hi Marie! The quick version I have here- Nicola was approaching liver failure, and her nurse practioner suggested that she call hospice to get the mechanism in place for when it was needed. A few days later, we saw her onc., who was a little upset at that. She said that hospice didn't need to be involved until ALL treatments had failed. I guess, like most things, the right course of action is in between. Personally, rightly or wrongly, I didn't want to contact hospice prematurely, because I thought it may "lessen" Nikki's will to fight, you know what I mean? Eventually, we did call. I called hospice and was told that the doctor needs to be the one to call. (This was in VA) Keep in mind, for ins. purposes, once "Hospice" is involved and there is no other course of treatment involved, certain things will no longer be covered, at least with our insurance that's the way it was. Hospice does provide alot of help and services that you may not be aware of. One example, if you need a "lift-chair" my ins. covered it, but once we went into hospice care, it didn't. I had to buy one. Talk to your onc. and your ins. people. I'll help however I can, Marie. You and Ed hang in there.