Has anyone ever had a parent under hospice care for an extended period - 9+ months?

My mom has been under hospice care now since late January. (Her diagnosis is multiple myeloma with amyloidosis)

When they first came in, they told us we were looking at about a month. We grieved, we prepared, we mourned - Mom rallied and has been hanging on the edge of a cliff - bedbound, skeleten-thin, weak and helpless for ten long months now....and still she goes on.
After about 4 or 5 months, Mom began declining again and was losing her appetite, and hospice introduced a prescription beverage called Resource Breeze which improved her appetite and strength levels somewhat. She is still drinking the Breeze and eating some pureed food - but doctors have confirmed she won't get any better, and it's like the disease brought her to the very brink of death and then left her hanging there. We are running out of means to provide for her care....we are tired, sad, depressed, and incredulous that something so horrible could last so long. Advice please?????
How did YOU get thru it?

My mom was in a place like that for nearly a year, however she was comatose (sp?). We took it one day at a time. That was all we could do.
Now, I want to bring up something that is hard to talk about, but if needed will save you many tears. Has she assigned a living will (someone to make medical descions if she is unable to)? Does she know what she wants if she were to go on lifesupport (does she even want to be on life support)??
My mother was on life support and we had a very hard time getting her off because she never once wrote down her wishes. We had to get many signatures from people to have her removed, when I say many, it was like 20 people, and when your family is small, that was like a nightmare.
Make sure you do this to avoid any possible pain later. Also, go see a coucilor to help you out.
I wish I had more to say, but we just had time helping us.
*hugs*

My uncle was under hospice care for 4 years before he passed away.

They told him that he would only live 3 months, and he ended up seeing 2 grandkids being born!

My grandmother was opposite--she was under hospice for only 2 months, even though she was told that she would live another 6-12 months.

The thing that made us make through was to remember to laugh and cry. When my uncle died, he was 5'9 and down to 95 pounds. There were tumors all over his body. When the time came, for some reason we all started laughing. Here was this very solomn and depressing moment, and all 7 of us in the room were cracking up. We had spent so much time mourning and so little time laughing, and it felt good. We cried as well, but laughing helped. A lot.

With my grandmother, it was different. We went to a professonal and I actually ended up taking up a new hobby. I now run around 20 miles a week, and I didn't start as a person who liked running. My therapist recommended emersing myself in something.

A close friend has had hospice for both parents and her husband - in all cases they did not try to prolong life with pills and medicines - but where there to make the patients comfortable. It seems to be our gut instinct to try to prolong life even when the end in inevitable. In the case of the husband - he stopped eating on his own because there was not hope of improvement. We must respect the patents wishes - and stop insisting that they hang on. On the other hand I have a family member who can not swallow, eat, talk, walk, and is now having difficulty breathing. With a feeding tube in place already the next thing is a breathing tube so that this wonderful life can continue till who knows when. I have no say in it and am actually worn out from trying to figure out why this person wants to keep going. I wish I could give you some words of encouragement - it is just our jobs to offer support to the person dying - maybe they just are afraid of what death will bring.

Your Mom's a fighter , i know it rough but just maybe she will prove the doctors wrong it has happened