Add Bonnie Craig photo here; Jared, hold on this; you and I were deciding how to include all of these video vignettes
When something like cancer occurs in an Indian family, you deal with the extended family.
You also deal with your core family. The core family, I think, is surrounded and protected by this larger extended family. My news of being diagnosed with cancer was the same as death occurring in our family system.
My husband's younger than me. We're very close, and the day that I had to go home and walk in the door and tell him what the doctor said, you know, I wish that I didn't have to see that look on his face because it was absolute fear. Because he asked me, "You're going to live, aren't you." And nobody knows that."
Click on the MYTH to see the FACT
MYTH: Most patients enter hospice care when they are within a few days of dying ... final days ...
FACT: The doctor has to determine that the patient, is probably going to die within the next six months. For the patients who do better than how the doctor predicted, the hospice services are still eligible for pay by medicare.
(Boughton Barbara. Facing the Future: Planning for a Good Death. Cure: spring 2003; pp. 52)
One of the Native men in the NACR Survivors' Support Network was having many problems. The Western medical doctors talked with the man and his family and told him he was not likely to live more than 6 months. The patient wanted to remain at home. With the help of the doctor and the family, hospice services were started and provided in the home. The Native man and his family had the Traditional Indian Healer come several times each week and pray and do some ceremonies to prepare for passing and to relieve some discomfort. The patient started to feel better and wanted to work on some of his leather crafts. Then he wanted to get up and walk around the village. Gradually, he returned to his normal way of living. The hospice nurse reduced her visits to once or twice a month to check that he has his medications and to see how he is doing. It has been more than 5 years now (2007) and he is still doing well. Because he was eligible for and started hospice, Medicare continues to pay for his nursing visits and his medication. They also still pay for his special bed that helps him get in and out of bed. The Western doctor visits with the patient and has also met and visited with the Traditional Indian Healers. The doctor says these visits always make him (1) feel happy for the patient and family, (2) feel humble and thankful, and (3) more open to other forms of healing. He has great respect for combining Western medicine with Traditional healing.
Story told by Linda B, 2007 with permission and based on long-term relationship with the patient and family
MYTH: Hospice care is more expensive than is hospital care.
FACT: Hospice care costs hundreds of dollars a day less than either hospitalization or nursing home care for the dying.
(Boughton Barbara. Facing the Future: Planning for a Good Death. Cure: Spring 2003; pp. 52)
MYTH: Hospice care is only available from hospitals in the city.
FACT: Hospice care is more common as home-based care than in the hospital. Members of the medical care team visit regularly. However, because many Natives live in rural areas or on Reservations, it may take several months to set up the in-home care. Even in many cities and towns, it can take a few months to get in home care set up.
(Boughton Barbara. Facing the Future: Planning for a Good Death. Cure: Spring 2003; pp. 53)
MYTH: Most medical schools train physicians about helpful information for end-of-life care.
FACT: end-of-life care information is included in less than half of the top medical school textbooks
(Boughton Barbara. Facing the Future: Planning for a Good Death. Cure: Spring 2003; pp. 53)
MYTH: You cannot get pain relief medication if you are in hospice care.
FACT: Hospice provides appropriate pain relief medication and can teach family members how to administer it. Some patients are able to control the amount of pain relieving medication they receive themselves. Other times a family member has this responsibility.
MYTH: For most people the physical process of dying is painful.
FACT: "...for most people, dying is a very gentle process"
(Ira Byock, MD. as quoted in Jo Cavallo, Confronting Death Cure: Summer 2006. p 22)