A little clarity for the hours ahead
For families navigating hospice in the United States
A plain-language guide to what you may see, what you can do, and who to call, in one place and in order.
Keep the answers close.
228 pages · 14 chaptersCame here from a video? Keep watching. The free videos and the booklets from your hospice are good, and this guide doesn't replace them. It puts the answers in order, so you can look them up in the moment. Please know that no nurse wrote this guide.
It speeds up, slows down, and stops for a while. Or there is a wet sound with each breath, and you can't tell what you are hearing or whether to call. This chapter separates the sounds that can come with dying from a struggle to breathe.
Chapter 7: The Breathing and the Sounds.
You may be afraid you are doing something wrong. You will find what is known, what isn't, what you can still offer, how to keep the mouth comfortable, and how to think about IV fluids if someone suggests them.
Chapter 6: When Eating and Drinking Stop.
You may see pulling at the sheets, trying to get out of bed, or a look that doesn't know you. You will find what can be behind it, what to try in the room, and when to get your hospice team on the phone.
Chapter 8: Restlessness, Agitation, and Confusion.
A dose was given, or held back, and the question won't leave you alone. You will find what the research does and doesn't show, what to watch for, and what to ask. There are no doses in this guide. Your team sets those.
Chapter 9: Pain, Morphine, and the Medicines at Home.
Hospice brings a team, medicines, equipment, and a phone number someone answers at night. It does not usually put a person in your house around the clock. You will find what the team takes on, what stays with you, and what to do if no one calls back.
Chapter 1: What Hospice Does, and What Stays With You.
When someone dies at home, the first call depends on whether hospice is involved. You will find how to tell that death has happened, who to call, what happens next, and why you don't have to hurry.
Chapter 13: The Last Hours and the First Hour After.
You don't have to memorize any of this. You only have to know where to look.
An independent guide for families, compiled from cited published sources. Not written or reviewed by a healthcare professional, and not a substitute for your hospice team.
Get the guide · $27The 90-Day No-Questions Refund. Secure checkout through Stripe.
Start with Find It Fast, a list near the front organized by what you are seeing, hearing, or afraid of, with the chapter to turn to. The symptom chapters open with a short box called "If it's happening now," then go through what you may see, what it usually means, what you can do, and when to call.
An independent guide for families, compiled from cited published sources. Not written or reviewed by a healthcare professional, and not a substitute for your hospice team.
Download the guide · $27The 90-Day No-Questions Refund. Secure checkout through Stripe.
Pages for writing down what you see and what you are told, kept in one folder by the bed and brought out when your hospice nurse visits. No medical advice and no doses are printed on them.
To add them, tick the box next to the price. The guide works without them.
The signs of the last weeks, days, and hours in plain words, who to call, and spaces for the phone numbers. Keep it where everyone in the house can see it.
| The Hours Ahead PDF guide, 228 pages | $27 |
|---|---|
| The Bedside Pages Printable PDF, 16 pages. Optional. | + $7 |
| Signs to Watch For and Who to Call Free to anyone, separately from your purchase | Free |
| Your total | $27, or $34 with The Bedside Pages |
These are the only prices. There is no discount and no deadline.
An independent guide for families, compiled from cited published sources. Not written or reviewed by a healthcare professional, and not a substitute for your hospice team.
Buy the guide · $27The 90-Day No-Questions Refund. Secure checkout through Stripe.
CallowayGuides is a publishing name, not a person. There is no author's name or biography on this guide. No nurse, doctor, or other healthcare professional wrote or reviewed it, and we don't want you to assume otherwise.
An independent guide for families, compiled from cited published sources. Not written or reviewed by a healthcare professional, and not a substitute for your hospice team.
How the guide was prepared is stated in the note on its last page, under "About this book." If anything you read there changes your mind, ask for your money back. If you would rather read a book by a hospice clinician, that is a sound choice, and your hospice team may be able to suggest one.
You may not. The free videos are good, and so are the booklets your hospice hands out. Keep using them. The videos give you an overview. The booklets cover their part. This guide puts the steps in one place, in order, so you can look something up in the moment instead of searching for the right video at night.
Much of the information behind it is public, and we say so. What you are paying for is having it gathered, organized, and sourced.
No. Use it alongside your team, never instead of them. If anything in it differs from what your team has told you, follow your team and ask them about the difference. Each chapter ends with questions to take to them, and Appendix B gathers those questions in one place.
No. The guide gives no medication doses. Your hospice team sets those. It tells you what to watch for, what to ask, and when to call before you do anything else.
No, and no one can promise that. The signs in Chapter 5 can help you understand what you are looking at and ask better questions, but they can't give you a date. Some deaths are hard even with good care. The guide says so, and tells you what to ask for if that happens.
From published sources, listed at the end of each chapter and gathered under All Sources at the back. They include Medicare and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the National Institute on Aging, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, MedlinePlus, the FDA, the Hospice Foundation of America, and National POLST. Where the sources don't settle something, the guide tells you. Some practical suggestions, such as how to press for help when a call isn't returned, are not drawn from a published source.
The guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of these organizations. This edition's information was checked in November 2026.
It can be. The symptom chapters are organized around what you are seeing, not around one diagnosis, and the guide says what changes when someone isn't on hospice. Cancer and dementia each have their own chapter. Other illnesses do not. It also covers nursing homes and caring from far away.
It is a PDF. After you pay, you go straight to a download page, and the link also comes to you by email. It opens on a phone, tablet, or computer, and you can print any page you want near the bed.
No. The phone numbers, Medicare rules, and legal forms are for the United States. Elsewhere they are different, so please ask your local care team instead.
The 90-Day No-Questions Refund covers you. Any time in the 90 days after you buy, reply to your delivery email and ask for your money back. We don't ask why, and we won't ask anything about the person you are caring for. You don't have to send or delete anything.
For 90 days after you buy, reply to your delivery email and ask for your money back. We won't ask why, and we won't ask anything about the person you are caring for.
An independent guide for families, compiled from cited published sources. Not written or reviewed by a healthcare professional, and not a substitute for your hospice team.
Keep it on your phone · $27The 90-Day No-Questions Refund. Secure checkout through Stripe.