Despite my genetic influence to the contrary, I am an optimist. Being a planner and a dreamer requires a hopefulness and confidence about the future. What I have discovered over the last six months is that there is a huge risk to being an optimist——the bitter disappointment when it simply doesn’t work out. We’ve had […]
Mom had a reasonable night. This morning she had a sneezing fit and sneezed her nasogastric tube straight out. So the nurse is holding off on replacing it to see how she does without it. It was like a cloud lifting, and her demeanor and energy has increased noticeably. She is taking a proper shower
My mom told me this story today: her friend (who graciously lets us stay at her Azores cabin) hosts an annual dinner at her home in Napa. She invites her family and friends. As is typical whenever you gather a group of Portuguese people together, the conversation turns to aches and pains and illnesses, each
Mom had a reasonably good night with pain and nausea being managed aggressively. I saw the surgeon this morning. He is encouraged by the softness in her belly (it was hard and distended yesterday). He ordered an Xray (I reminded him she had one two weeks ago; starting to worry a little about all this
Mom is in the hospital. I called her this morning and she was in extreme pain, plus the ever present vomiting. She sounded awful. I called her doctor, and his nurse later called and told her to go to the emergency department. Her brother took her. I has not completely unpacked from my return on
I’ve written about it before, the three biggest “quality of life” issues that face a cancer patient—pain, nausea and fatigue. Mom continues to struggle with all three. For a few weeks, the nausea was generally managed. She would feel crappy for a day or two after chemotherapy, and would slowly get back to normal before
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Mom has continued to complain about gut pain, and has resisted loading up a second fentanyl patch even though the doctor instructed her to do so if the pain persisted. She also continues to disbelieve her doctor’s assertion that the pain is caused by internal scar tissue. She has made an appointment with her primary
No obstruction. The mystery continues. Doc continues to be convinced the pain is caused by scar tissue, which doesn’t show up on X-ray. The pain is right in the area where her left kidney was removed, so it makes sense. No treatment except the management of pain. Fentanyl patch seems to be doing the trick,
We had an oncologist appointment today. Mom’s pain has been difficult to manage, in part because she doesn’t take vicodin regularly due to the digestive upset. The doctor is still convinced that scar tissue is what’s causing the problem, even though my mom doesn’t believe it. He ordered an X-ray, even if the CT scan