Conscious Departures

Morphine May 7, 2012

Taking time to understand the process of dying may help you avoid going into full panic mode as your loved one moves through unfamiliar behavior patterns. But doing some research about the use of morphine during palliative care may save you from potential grief, guilt and long lasting personal trauma.

In the first meetings with our hospice representative we learned about palliative care including the use of narcotics to relieve pain. We learned that if the pain became greater than what the lower grade pain-releivers could manage we might have to escalate all the way up to morphine. Our representative wanted to make sure we understood and were okay with this.

My initial reaction was that I wanted K to be as conscious as possible during her final days and I wasn’t sure if morphine would allow her that privilege. On the other hand I most certainly didn’t want her to suffer with extreme pain. I wasn’t settled, but rather than impose my thoughts I waited for K’s reaction. She agreed that the morphine would be preferable, if ever needed. I went along knowing K didn’t make decisions like this lightly. It was obvious to me afterwards that she had already thought this through. (more…)