So much has happened in our family since my last post. Mom is still hanging in there with this awful disease but our dad has been on a down hill slide.
On March 27th our dad fell at home and broke his hip. He had a simple surgery (3 screws) to fix it.....he was discharged to rehab after a week in the hospital. At 85, a broken hip can be the beginning of the end. He was so weak from laying in the bed at the hospital he could not stand up for PT. and it seemed as if he had given up was an awful patient. He would tell PT he just wanted to sleep....and sleep is what he did. About 2 weeks into his rehab stay he went into acute renal failure and they sent him back to the hospital. He was really in a weakened state by then. The doctor said it may come to the point of dialysis. Our family felt he would not be a good candidate in his weakened condition. Our dad is a fighter and fight he did, his kidney kicked back into working and he was released from the hospital back to rehab after about 5 days.
By this time he had no strength to even sit up and when they tried he just slid out of the wheelchair. He had lost all core strength. He developed pneumonia during the next few days and by the time his insurance ended and it would become private pay we got a phone call that his white and red blood cells were very low and he needed to go back to the hospital. This would be his 3rd hospital stay in about 9 weeks. This time the news was worse....yes, he did have a another UTI but the blood count indicated that he possibly had MDS. This is the disease that Robin Roberts (on GMA) had after her breast cancer treatment. We were asked if he had had any chemo treatments and he has not. The only way to confirm the disease is with a bone marrow draw from the hip. The doctor said even if it was confirmed, he could not stand the treatment which would be rounds of chemo and then a bone marrow transplant. Since that was not an option, the doctor said we needed to consider hospice sooner rather than later. With everything he had endured these last several weeks we had seen the writing on the wall although we did not want to admit it.
That night, I started a search for inpatient hospice. I googled and found a beautiful place in Duluth.....too late to call that night but it was on my to do for first thing in the morning. My prayer that night was if that was the best place for dad to let them have an available bed when I called in the morning. God answered our prayer and Jim and I went to visit......it was beautiful and peaceful. God provided a place and we started the process to get him moved from the hospital to hospice. We started the process on Wednesday but it was too late in the day to move him. Dad had been very lucid with the nurse practitioner about his last few weeks....he even admitted to her that he had gone downhill. Thursday was going to be the move day. We met with hospice at the hospital and filled out the paperwork and told dad he would be moving.
Something's you just can't make up.........As we left the hospital to go to hospice, my car indicated that my emergency brake was on. I had stopped at a light, pulled it up and released it but the indicator was still on. We made it another few blocks and I decided to turn the car off and back on......big mistake. The car would not start. Here we are in the middle lane of lunch hour traffic and the car would not start. I called AAA thinking it was the battery and they put a rush on coming to my
rescue. I am signaling the people to go around me rather than sit behind me blowing their horns.
Finally, Atlanta's finest pulls up behind me with blue lights flashing......he asked me what the problem was and I told him the car is dead. I told him AAA was on its way and asked if he could use his push bumper and get me into the parking lot of JR crickets across the street....'sorry mam we can't push cars any more.' He waited a few minutes and said he was sorry but he was going to have to call a tow truck. Guess who got there first?....the tow truck. Before he even got the car hooked up, here comes AAA but only a battery truck. The tow truck said it would cost $65 to tow me to the parking lot across the street .....what can you do at this point? He did and AAA checked the battery.....nope the alternator. I been talking to Jim during this fiasco and he was headed our way to come get us. I told the tow truck to carry it to our Goodyear place in Norcross to have it looked out. I called them to give them a heads up and that it appeared that it was the alternator. He said he could get it fixed that day. So we say goodby to the car, AAA and the policeman and went to wait on Jim at JR Crickets. Funny thing I had just told Jim about this place a few days ago and said I had eaten there before the
fire when they were close to the then BellSouth Center downtown. Well, I was eating here again
waiting for Jim to pick us up.
Nancy and I got back to her house and took her car to go to hospice. Her first visit and she was impressed. This will his home until his final home going. He is not eating much and drinking very little fluids. He is sleeping peacefully and rarely rouses when we are here.
It's Sunday morning..Jim and I are with him at hospice. He has had a little applesauce this morning. I am just watching the slow rise and fall of his chest. He did not 'wake up' when we got there nor when I put his oxygen back in his nose. It is so hard to see him just lying there. The nurse came in and told us his urine was very bloody.....it had been orange tinged in the hospital but now it is blood colored. She said the doctor would be in tomorrow morning to check on him. His lunch came but he shook his head no when I asked him if he wanted something to eat. He did manage about 1/2 of a small cup of yogurt and a few sips of water. I don't know how long he can last with this little bit of food and water.
We have had about 10 weeks of 'preparation' but it is still hard. The family knows, when he dies we will see him again in heaven. Mom will join him one day and they will both be free from pain and disease and will be together again. They will celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary on July 22nd.
Dad, it will not be good bye, but until we see you again.
We love you dad,
Diane
Nancy
Tim
