Just a quick update today. As many of you know mom has been hospitalized since Aug 1st for treatment and pain related to a bowel obstruction and after several days without much relief and after consultation with another oncologist yesterday and a surgeon today, we have made a family decision to move forward with surgery which may happen anytime in the next 72 hours. We hope and trust that this will help alleviate some of the pain related to mom’s bowel…
It’s been a week since mom was admitted to the hospital, and she continues her stay there – we all do! Chemo is on hold and cannot be resumed unless mom is well enough, and this currently involves her bowel obstruction. She has been on a full liquid diet since last Wednesday in order to aid with the obstruction in her colon. Mom has also undergone some further testing to take a look at what’s happening and for the best…
Time together We were able to spend five days together on our family vacation which felt like a miracle given all that has been happening over the preceding weeks and months. That’s not to say that the five days were without challenges, sadness or pain and I’d be a dreamer to say that things felt like they’ve always been. But there was a huge blessing in it – I can’t imagine any one of us wanting to be anywhere else….
The doctor threw a curveball at us on Sunday and rather than a full discharge, offered mom an option of a day pass, with mom needing to return at 10pm. This was an option we hadn’t considered but it was a creative way of addressing mom’s hesitation given a very painful morning. Our family does an annual one week vacation each year by renting out a vacation home. Our house rental week out by Hope this year was to begin…
Day 8 at the hospital and I’m beginning to think I will miss, just a little, the nice air conditioning in the room. There have been some small but encouraging improvements over the last few days which will hopefully result in mom being discharged, possibly on Sunday. I have to admit that the stay at the hospital has been longer than any of us expected, progress has been slower than what we imagined when mom was first admitted. Somehow it…
At the risk of simplifying things too much or not being medically 100% accurate, I will share what I’ve observed with the cycle of pain management we find ourselves in. Up until the end of April, mom’s pain was managed through Tylenol and Advil. Then, as a result of the excruciating pain associated with the first chemo side effects and likely the tumour itself, mom has been prescribed hydromorphone which is an opioid. This had to be done extremely carefully…