When it became clear that my husband was not going to survive, my family decided that we wanted to bring him home to die. It was explained to me by the doctor in the ICU that once my husband was extubated he would survive anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

The day we decided to extubate him, we were waiting to get the word from Hospice that all was in place and ready at home. Janice came on duty at 7 pm. Things were moving very slowly and I asked Janice if we could go ahead and extubate since we would have to observe him for a short time to determine whether or not he would survive the transport home. Janice said, “That is a reasonable request”. From that point on she really got things moving.

Janice had coffee and cookies brought to the room for my three daughters and myself, knowing we had been there all day and probably had a long night ahead. At this point, Janice made sure the Transport team was ready and waiting, knowing that time was at a premium. She and the Respiratory Therapist extubated my husband, and after making sure he was comfortable and Hospice was in place at home, she got the Transport team in the room and we headed home.

We got home about 9:30 pm; my husband died early the next morning. I believe that if Janice had not moved things along so efficiently we may not have gotten him home before he died.