I visited a friend of mine who is a Hospice patient in Arizona.  At that time she was living alone and I found myself shocked at the chores she had to do by herself.  I don’t think I’d ever thought about how much work it is to take pills on time in the proper amount day after day.  Once the pills become a habit, it’s hard to remember whether they’ve actually been taken or not.  So, she kept a notebook of what was taken when – when she remembered.  Which brought to my mind the difficulty of being a Hospice patient alone.  One of her Hospice  nurses told me that half of her patients lived alone and that is not uncommon.  According to Aging: Demographics, Health, and Health Services by Elizabeth Vierck and Kris Hodgesten ten percent of Hospice patients live alone over all.  It’s something to consider as I enter my later years and it scares me! What do you think?