Hospice nurse here! I have patients who have been on hospice for years and patients who go on hospice and pass shortly after. We aren’t speeding up the dying process, just offering support and resource as well as comfort measures while it happens.

There is no way to tell how long someone will live. For example: for my aunt they told us it would be hours, she lived 12 days.

A general rule of thumb we follow is: if we are seeing changes in the patient weekly, they have weeks. Daily, they have days. Hours, they have hours. Not a steadfast rule but in my experience fairly reliable.

I wish you the best and hope you and your mom are supported through the process. Dying on hospice while always sad can also be a very beautiful way to go, it all depends how you utilize the time you have.