Knowing that you have a life-limiting or life-threatening illness and that your days are numbered is not easy a news to digest. One still has to accept it though, because there isn’t much you can do, really.
However, you can choose how you want to live out your remaining days. Many would like to not have to be stuck on a hospital bed but stay at home and have the freedom to do whatever that is important to them. That is now entirely possible – with the help of palliative care.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a special type of medical care. Aimed to ease the discomfort and stress of living with a serious or life-threatening illness i.e. cancer, heart disease etc, palliative care works along with other therapies to ease a person’s physical symptom while providing comfort and assistance emotionally and mentally at the same time.
The goal is to improve one’s quality of life and that of family, friends and carers. Not to be confused with end-of-life care, palliative care is available for people at all stages of life-altering illnesses and it is based on what a person’s needs are, not the diagnosis.
How Does It Improve Quality of Life?
Given its focus is centred around a patient’s wishes, care is provided in a way that the person is most comfortable and as happy as they possibly can be under the circumstances.
If receiving care at home is one’s top priority, then that can be arranged so one can remain at home and not in the hospital.
Medical equipment and assisted facilities may be installed around the house, and trained medical professionals will be engaged to administer the required care at the patient’s home. When such a wish is fulfilled, naturally it improves the patient’s quality of life compared to having him/her stay at the hospital.
Further, it has been found that patients who had palliative care reported less symptoms, a smaller drop in quality of life, and less depression and anxiety than those who had standard care. Though this is the case, it is worthy to note that palliative care does not have an impact on survival.
Nevertheless, palliative care doesn’t help just the patient – those who are close and dear to them will benefit from it too. Depending on the circumstances, the whole journey can be both a short or long one but one thing that is for sure, is that the patient’s family members also suffer mentally and emotionally no matter the duration. It is not easy to witness a loved one falling sick, so palliative care is there to provide grief and bereavement counselling for family members.
So be it you need palliative care for only a few weeks or at intervals over a period of months of years, palliative care is there to help during these very difficult moments. It is best commenced early in the disease process to help you maintain the best quality of life according to your wishes so do contact your best palliative care Melbourne provider today to find out more.
