Hi,
My boyfriend has stage 4 nsclc and this past week decided to discontinue his treatments also. My first thought was why hospice and not palitive care?
With palitive care he can still see doctors and get treatment if he chooses. Not to mention, he is Not locked into hospice, he can request to go into palitive care and stop Hospice. When the time comes for hospice, you will know!!
If he has (or had) a pain management doctor they can prescribe his pain medicine for him if he's in palitive care and your husband's primary care or oncologist can order a PET scan every 3 months so you can keep track of the cancers progress. But remember if he ever begins to get severe headaches, the PET scan won't show if the cancer has moved to his brain. He will need an MRI.
PLEASE DO NOT be too judgemental on the use of his pain pills as we don't actually know the extent of their pain.
Some days are better then others. There's a possibility that they may need to increase the strength or change what he's taking to help his pain.
At the present time, my boyfriend isn't in either palitive care or hospice. His oncologist has recommended him for palitive care so that if he changes his mind he can continue treatments or just keep an eye on the progression.
Keep the faith and enjoy the time you have with him. Love him through it and be there for him.
Hopefully this helps a little...
Sylvia