HOBART – Amber Morris said one of the happiest days of her life was when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“I was ecstatic because now I had an answer and validation that it wasn’t all in my head,” the 58-year-old Hobart woman said. “After four years of trying to figure out what was wrong, now that we knew what it was, we could treat it.”
But managing symptoms and working to slow progression was all that could be done for the degenerative, incurable disease. Some days were better than others and the bad days eventually intensified to the point where she had to stop driving and was largely confined to her home.
It made keeping appointments with her doctors and getting regular medical testing difficult. The relief she had when she was first diagnosed with MS shifted into feelings of increasing isolation and hopelessness.
“You lose your purpose in life,” she said. “You ask yourself, ‘Why am I even here?’”
That was until a Franciscan Health nurse practitioner suggested she try Franciscan Health’s Palliative Care program.
Palliative care offers in-home support, symptom management and decision-making assistance to patients who are currently treating their illness. The comprehensive approach focuses on the physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs of the patient with the goal of providing the best quality of life available to the patient through symptom management, thereby enabling the patient to achieve maximum functional capacity.
Morris said she’d never heard of Palliative Care and like many, mistakenly thought it was synonymous with the end-of-life Hospice care.
“My biggest fear was letting someone I don’t know into my home, especially for a woman,” Morris said. “The social worker was phenomenal when she came out and completely put me at ease, answered every question.”
Now, Morris receives regular visits from Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Vickie Allison. Allison checks her vitals, reviews lab and imaging results, discusses prescriptions and suggests options for managing her symptoms.
“She listens and she is so open to trying new things,” Morris said of Allison. “She communicates with all of my physicians, which is extremely helpful. My doctors have told me they appreciate having her here to help, too. I’m not afraid to tell her anything. She never judges me.”
Allison said her goal is, “to help patients have a healthier, better quality of life.”
“You have to listen to best help the patients understand their medical issues,” she said. “Every individual is different and their experience with a medication or an illness will be unique to them. You have to have an open mind.”
Morris said since she began having visits from Allison, she’s been better able to keep her appointments and get regular testing.
“Vickie has literally saved my life,” she said. “I finally made peace with my diagnosis and a lot of it is because of Vickie.”
Morris said she would recommend the Franciscan Health Palliative Care program to anyone living with chronic illness.
“I’ve never been treated this kindly,” she said. “You talk yourself out of trying, thinking it won’t matter, but there are people out there who still care, good people and they are at Franciscan.”
For more information about Franciscan Health’s Palliative Care program, call (219) 945-8020.
Caption: Amber Morris, left, is examined in her home by Franciscan Health Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner Vickie Allison.
