Mom Is Back In the Hospital

[RandyW]

Ya know where to find me if I can help with anything. Check in several times during the course of the day. Good Luck and Feel free to dump thoughts as ya put it any time ya need to. glad you are pursuing this course of action and it sounds good.

[Linda661]

Well, had what I thought was a great meeting with the hospital docs yesterday: both in mom's room and privately. The hospital onc. agreed that having mom's case reviewed by Don M's contact is wise if the contact is willing to do that -- apparently I can either do that or ask our regular onc. to do it; right now I am probably going to ask the regular onc. to do it as there is so much going on for me, that it would help lots to have someone else helping me followup on these sorts of things. Hauling mom personally to Seattle isn't a viable option in her present condition -- I'm trying to get her complete medical history reviewed by this contact for comment at this point.

Of all the options, the hospital onc. agreed that Tarceva might be doable as a try -- if we are gonna' do it, we need to do it soon. He doesn't expect it will do anything, but he said it might not have any downside risks for mom. That's a big concern: that we not try something that could actually shorten her life and just have her suffer needlessly from side effects. I've still got to learn more about Tarceva this weekend.

I went over the wasting info. with the hospital onc. and he Rx'd her fish oil pills -- he really isn't familiar with the research, but fish oil is not going to present any harm to mom: worth a try, thanks RandyW for that....who knows, I am hopeful that might give Tarceva an extra shot at working to whatever degree it can, if mom wants to do Tarceva. You should have seen the looks on the nurse's faces when they saw the fish oil Rx -- I told them I had that put there and why. That's one "med" I am going to have to be sure doesn't suddenly disappear from her meds list somehow in the process as it's unusual for the medical folks to see and they are not familiar with it.

I asked the obvious question of "what would you do if it was your mom?" and he said "well, you don't know what I think of my mom" (he was trying levity, given the situation). I said, OK "well, what would you do if it was you...would you do anything different than what we have discussed; and are there any questions I didn't think to ask that I should have here?" He couldn't come up with anything else for us to do. He is also available to me to talk to anytime now that we are out of the hospital for additional support and guidance -- can't ask for much more than that.

The most difficult part of this is dealing with my mom. She was seeing people and animals walking outside the window of her hospital room that aren't there for the last several days and watching flowers open and close on their own -- she agrees to one thing, then doesn't remember what she agreed to, changes her mind later....really tough to believe that I have a mom who can actually make decisions for herself now. Agreed that hospice comfort measures would be nice, but later asks about the schedule for continuing treatment -- this part is a mess. We may be heading for an official incompetent mom here.....this part rots, but I think I've done pretty well in my research to where I have peace of mind to make decisions for her if it comes to that; at least I know what I would do and my mind is at peace that what I would do would be in the best interest of my mom and what I would want done if it were me as well.

Karen, I am taking care of myself as best as I can. I am getting my rest, but I am still mentally taxed to say the least. I'm eating pretty well, but my eating pattern isn't ideal -- by the time I get to me, it is so late in the day that I eat and go to bed (any wonder I have gained weight through this?). Things are just too intense for me to put alot of worry on that one at the moment -- I have been checked out by my own doctor and my body appears OK other than the BP med I need (over the last two days, that med has barely kept my BP in line to numbers my doc told me to watch out for, but it did). What hurts a bit is that I know I cannot bring mom home to personally caregive her and do everything else that needs to be done on her behalf. That's also another hard part, but the absolute truth -- I am riding on a string and have been for some time now. Just can't do anymore than I am already doing and function -- during part of this, mom really wants to come home, but she doesn't understand or care what it takes to support her. I wish I could do that for her, but I can't.

Linda

[RandyW]

Always glad to be of assistance even if only a little bit saying Prayers under the HOT Carolina Blue Sky.

[Don M]

Linda, you and your mom have my continued prayers.

don M