March 31, 2008

Monday With Mom

Hi everyone. Ms. Lori again :) 2nd day in Charlotte and it's VERY cold! Brrrr......anticipating tomorrow as it is slated to be 69 degrees. More like Charlotte weather.
We started the morning with Barb visiting.....the Hospice nurse. LOVE her! She's originally from Ohio and she's a hoot! Super fun and funny. Her stories were delightful. She took mom's vitals and chatted with us a while. I went to the dining room afterwards and asked her a few tough questions without mom around.
1.) What are the tremors from??? She thought it had to do with the tumors in her brain. A neurological symptom. Sounds logical.
2.) In your professional opinion as a Hospice nurse and seeing mom in this stage of her illness, how long would you estimate her to be here? A week or two or more like a month-3 months?
Barb said closer to a month or two. She has no pain and she's able to eat well and get around with the assistance of her walker so she thought she's doing pretty well.
We discussed her memory issues in length. She said Oncology doctors are in the business to do everything possible to get patients well and/or prolong life. (Which they should up until a certain point of no return) What they do not tell people is that the 2nd round of radiation is really really bad on the memory. It almost always causes demetia that is irreplacable. Meaning the memory will go and never come back. So I think it was a wise decision to stop the radiation so she is still able to smile, laugh, talk to her family and friends and have a quality of life at the end of her journey on Earth. She's in great spirits folks. She says she loves me all the time and loves dad for everything he does everyday.
Aunt Bets called tonight, yeahhh! :) Mom enjoyed that call.
Dad was able to spend the morning with his good friend Jerry.
Tonight he fetched us Kentucky Fried Chicken. Mom loved that. We had icecream with double chocolate syrup for dessert. She ate well.
Signing off on this cold and rainy Spring day.
4 days until Jill arrives, YEAH!!! :)

No comments: