My wonderful Polish mother-in-law lives with us, and it has been a delight to have her in the household for the 11 years I have been married to her daughter. But now, Grandma is 98, and she's not doing so well. Up until about a year and a half ago, her quality of life was good, and she was generally quite happy (despite the fact that she listened to those horrible talk shows on the radio, and they got her so worried).
But being 98 is tough. Grandma doesn't get enough oxygen in her blood, and it makes her confused and scared. It used to be that we could take her in for a transfusion when she got like this, but the transfusions don't work any more. So, she's in distress much of the time now. I suppose she'll get to the point where she goes into a coma due to lack of oxygen, and then she'll pass on - but for now, she keeps going, and she's in distress. I go into her room and chat with her and sing her a song, and that helps for a while - but then she's distressed again.
I suspect she stays awake much of the night, with no one to comfort her. She does have our two shih tzu dogs sleeping with her, and that does help.

But I wonder - are there other things we can do for this poor, dear woman to make her more comfortable and to give more richness to her life? Many people have suggested hospice, but she's really quite healthy still and not really ready for hospice. Still, we need to do what we can to make sure she has a good life now. I've tried reading to her, but she doesn't seem to follow what I read to her. She does like my singing, and she loves the dogs. Any other ideas? She's lived so long and done so many wonderful things and raised such a wonderful daughter. What can we do do make her last years, good years?

-Joe=