Visits

We are having trouble figuring out which medications make dad feel better. He feels like the morphine makes him extremely irritable. The Lorazapam seems to help with anxiety and claustrophobia, but not as much with the breathing. Dad is on pretty much constant oxygen now.  Absolutely zero appetite. For example, yesterday he was able to eat a piece of toast, a few cooked veggies and a pear. That is not a lot to survive on, but it’s the best he can do. There are several obstacles he has to overcome in order to take in food.

• He is not hungry
• Food doesn't taste good anymore
• Getting it to his mouth - he is not ready to be fed yet
• Chewing, which is exhausting
• Swallowing, which gets harder as time goes on

Dad has declined a feeding tube. His hospice nurse said it’s now or never for the feeding tube. Dad knows that, and he is comfortable with his decision.

We are getting to that terrible time that Dad was dreading – because he is such a social butterfly – where we will need to keep visit length to a minimum. Putting this request out there is very hard for my dad. Unfortunately, he has nothing for energy reserves. If you do visit (which they still want) please keep visits to no more than about 30 minutes or so. 

However there are lots of ways to still visit my parents in addition to that – e-mail (grullo2@msn.com) or comment on this blog. Send a letter or a card. He loves getting cards in the mail and it means a lot to him. Being surrounded by people and good conversation has always been something that Dad loves, and it’s just one more thing this disease is stealing from him.

Dad is really hoping to get out for Maddy’s game today.  It’s a day-to-day thing. He is SO not ready to be in a place where he can’t really even leave the house anymore. It is just another level of independence and freedom stolen.