Getting By With a Little Help From My Meds
This is being updated by Donna again. Since last blog Calvin has had a lot of short visits from friends and family. On Sunday April 1st my oldest son, Joe, drove down from Michigan to help me will some jobs around the house and yard, and to see Calvin. I had a lengthy list for him which he finished, except for scraping the wood around the outside doors and the porch railings so I can paint them sometime. He was a good slave boy. While he was here he went with me to West Funeral Home. Calvin is interested in having some say in his funeral preparations, so we brought back some information for him to review, and he has chosen his coffin, and the cemetery. Calvin will be going with me to the funeral home this afternoon to pick out our cemetery plot. My son Joe left for home Wednesday evening, April 4.
Also on the evening of Wednesday, April 4, Calvin's mother and brother arrived. They drove here from Arizona. They stayed until yesterday morning, Monday, April 9. They drove on up to New Jersey where several aunts live. They will visit there for about a week and return back here with us Tuesday next week. Calvin was glad to see them and enjoyed their visit.
On Friday my sister and her two sons came for a short lunch visit. They drove all the way down from Maryland, stayed only a few hours, then were back on their way home. Calvin also enjoyed seeing them.
Friday night, April 6, my second son, Dean, and his wife, Hillary, arrived, bringing Allison home from college with them. They drove here from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. Calvin had really been missing Allison. It was great to have her home for the weekend. We also enjoyed seeing Dean and Hillary, and their 2 daschunds. They all left here on Sunday afternoon.
Calvin's Hospice nurse was here Monday, April 2. Calvin's left upper arm pain was continuing to increase with not really much relief from the pain medication. Even the teeniest movement of his left arm or hand was excruciating. On Tuesday, April 3, Nurse Jane visited again. On Wednesday, our Hospice Social Worker Pamela came to see us. On Thursday, Nurse Jane and Dr. Soufas, one of the Hospice doctors came to see Calvin. They believe that the pain in Calvin's arm could be from a hairline fracture of the bone in his upper arm. Small cell cancer, when it attacks the bones, can sometimes cause a pathological fracture of a bone. Calvin had been wearing a sling for about a week, but it didn't help enough. So Nurse Jane advised using a sling and swath, which slings the arm, and then wraps the arm close to the body so there cannot be any movement. He started wearing that Thursday afternoon and it has helped a lot to keep his arm and hand immobilized. His pain meds have been slowing increased over this past week as well.
Sunday Calvin was able to go to church with Allison and me and his brother Charlie. A neighbor friend loaned us a wheelchair that had been her husband's. With that Calvin was wheeled in to church right from the parking lot, and back out again afterwards. It made it easier for him.
Yesterday Nurse Jane came. She again upped Calvin's pain meds. She wants to get him to a place where he is not needing so many breakthrough pain pills, so she increased his long-acting pain pills even more. She also obtained a sample from Calvin for a urinalysis because of some symptoms Calvin was experiencing. This morning she called and said that he does have a urinary track infection - again. She will be dropping by some different antibiotics for him later today.
I am officially on a Leave of Absence from my job at Mission Hospital, beginning yesterday, at no pay, of course. One of my co-workers will be doing my job while I am out. Her work was distributed to several other girls. My manager, supervisor, and co-workers have been just great. I was told that several of them want to donate some of their PTO (paid time off). With the 7 days I had accumulated and their donations I may get a couple of pay checks yet to come.
Calvin's outlook remains the same. Please keep the emails coming. I print every one out for Calvin. When he is up to it he enjoys short visits as well.
Also on the evening of Wednesday, April 4, Calvin's mother and brother arrived. They drove here from Arizona. They stayed until yesterday morning, Monday, April 9. They drove on up to New Jersey where several aunts live. They will visit there for about a week and return back here with us Tuesday next week. Calvin was glad to see them and enjoyed their visit.
On Friday my sister and her two sons came for a short lunch visit. They drove all the way down from Maryland, stayed only a few hours, then were back on their way home. Calvin also enjoyed seeing them.
Friday night, April 6, my second son, Dean, and his wife, Hillary, arrived, bringing Allison home from college with them. They drove here from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. Calvin had really been missing Allison. It was great to have her home for the weekend. We also enjoyed seeing Dean and Hillary, and their 2 daschunds. They all left here on Sunday afternoon.
Calvin's Hospice nurse was here Monday, April 2. Calvin's left upper arm pain was continuing to increase with not really much relief from the pain medication. Even the teeniest movement of his left arm or hand was excruciating. On Tuesday, April 3, Nurse Jane visited again. On Wednesday, our Hospice Social Worker Pamela came to see us. On Thursday, Nurse Jane and Dr. Soufas, one of the Hospice doctors came to see Calvin. They believe that the pain in Calvin's arm could be from a hairline fracture of the bone in his upper arm. Small cell cancer, when it attacks the bones, can sometimes cause a pathological fracture of a bone. Calvin had been wearing a sling for about a week, but it didn't help enough. So Nurse Jane advised using a sling and swath, which slings the arm, and then wraps the arm close to the body so there cannot be any movement. He started wearing that Thursday afternoon and it has helped a lot to keep his arm and hand immobilized. His pain meds have been slowing increased over this past week as well.
Sunday Calvin was able to go to church with Allison and me and his brother Charlie. A neighbor friend loaned us a wheelchair that had been her husband's. With that Calvin was wheeled in to church right from the parking lot, and back out again afterwards. It made it easier for him.
Yesterday Nurse Jane came. She again upped Calvin's pain meds. She wants to get him to a place where he is not needing so many breakthrough pain pills, so she increased his long-acting pain pills even more. She also obtained a sample from Calvin for a urinalysis because of some symptoms Calvin was experiencing. This morning she called and said that he does have a urinary track infection - again. She will be dropping by some different antibiotics for him later today.
I am officially on a Leave of Absence from my job at Mission Hospital, beginning yesterday, at no pay, of course. One of my co-workers will be doing my job while I am out. Her work was distributed to several other girls. My manager, supervisor, and co-workers have been just great. I was told that several of them want to donate some of their PTO (paid time off). With the 7 days I had accumulated and their donations I may get a couple of pay checks yet to come.
Calvin's outlook remains the same. Please keep the emails coming. I print every one out for Calvin. When he is up to it he enjoys short visits as well.
posted by Calvin | 7:16 AM
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