What Dying Looks Like During Final Days of Life

[Music] I think the the scariest symptom at the end of life for family members is the change in breathing and often you will you will see pauses and breathing it could become irregular you can hear a change in the noise of breathing which can kind of sound like a rattle um and you know physically that can be a buildup of secretions in the in the lungs often people say that this I mean we don't know for sure I suppose but that it's not uncomfortable for the for the patient and for the person experiencing it but it is it can be disturbing for the family member who's there beside them and hearing these noises so I think that's probably the the um the most common reason that someone would call 9-1-1 and being aware that there will be breathing changes and changes in the sound um as someone nears the end of life and it's likely that you also see some changes in their skin color um there's something that you would see it's called modeling so it's discoloration of the skin that may start sort of from the bottom up in different parts of the body you may see it on the back if they're lying down flat on the surface for a long period so you know anytime that you do start to see some modeling and death usually occurs within about 24 hours of that time period the level of Consciousness will often change quite significantly significantly as well so before I mean it does happen that someone is conscious right to the end and saying their last words and then you know like the movies they close their eyes and they're gone but more often they're probably unconscious for a period of time before um death actually occurs so they won't be taking any food or fluids at all um their breathing will be irregular you'll probably see some modeling changes in skin color they'll be cool to touch um so at that point it's important to do things like mouth care you know keep their lips lubricated manage any symptoms that they have you know if they are agitated or unable to or moving around in bed and seem uncomfortable you know that's when you want to be giving them medications to manage those symptoms so that their physical body is is not in any discomfort um but mostly it's it's the changing in breathing and and um level of Consciousness that are that you always see you also likely see a decrease in the output so there may not be any bowel movements happening or any urine being put put out because they're not having much intake as well so you'll see that effect I think just being able to read and recognize facial expressions is very important a lot of times and near the end of life if they're no longer able to verbalize their pain you'll see some facial changes they'll be grimacing moaning sometimes they may be reaching for certain body parts if there's pain specific to a certain area so those are certain things you can pick up on to realize that you know pain may be a factor in what's happening at that moment foreign [Music]

Channel: Heart House Hospice

Views: 1,576,798

Keywords: hospice, Heart House Hospice, Mississauga, Ontario, Malton, Brampton, final days of life, caregiver, death, dying, palliative, Canada

Id: 3oTxX5g0MpU

Length: 3min 23sec (203 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 28 2017