Here we go more or less on schedule.
Not much to report, Elaine is at home sleeping in a hospital style bed supplied by Silver Chain. She also has a pump delivering pain relief sub-cutaneously supplied by Sliver Chain and refilled daily by Silver Chain. They really do provide a fabulous service with never a complaint or failure to perform. As of tonight we will change Elaine's medication to eliminate the need for the pump and that will hopefully make life a little easier all round.
Every day since getting home Elaine is getting stronger and more independent, a bit too independent as she is still a falls risk. In herself she is also a lot more positive and this was helped along today by a good report from our radiation oncologist. May the good reports keep coming.
We sold our van a few weeks ago and have just done a deal on a new (preloved) one. This one is in Sydney and at this point her doctors have agreed that she can join me for the trip home - 10 days across the Nullarbor. It will be great if we can pull this off travelling together has always been good.
Monday, 29 January 2018
Saturday, 20 January 2018
Once again a long time between drinks.
It has been a difficult few weeks, Elaine is back in hospital and the UTI is giving her a hard time. Lots of tests, antibiotic being fed in intravenously but with limited effect. then they sent a camera inside which revealed chronic severe inflammation and took a few biopsies. They were also analysing fluids but eventually, after lots of doctor type intervention, that they could not find any infection. In the meantime Elaine is suffering and going downhill!
Then they call in the palliative care doctor and last Friday she calls a family meeting. We in the meantime are pushing for her to come home on Monday ready for her birthday on Tuesday, as she appears to be improving. She wants out of there! So at the meeting we are told things are pretty 'dire' but we are still able to arrange the release. They are very good with this and will coordinate with Silver Chain to provide us with all the special gear needed. The kids are great, especially Toni who says that she will be here all the time as needed.
Then yesterday we are told that she cannot support herself to stand up and cannot leave the bed - disaster. It appears that the night staff nearly had her fall and that one of the nurses hurt her back. I cannot believe that she has deteriorated that quickly, the previous evening she was quite able to get out of bed and stand and walk with a little bit of help) so I have long talks with her nurse but they remain adamant that she needs reassessment and is unlikely come home on Monday. We are devastated!
Then come the afternoon and Elaine needs to make short journey and the afternoon shift agrees to get her out of bed. Which they successfully do and which I do later on, with a little bit of help, to get her into a wheelchair to go for a walk. Goody we are back on track.
During the night after the meeting I realise that this is really nothing different to what our oncologist told us 3 months ago. I also asked the doctor to get me a copy of the CT scan from January 12, which she did. Reading that showed that Elaine had not deteriorated dramatically and that once again the radiotherapy had been successful. So I will reschedule our appointment with the radiation guy (i had to cancel last week) and see what can be done.
It has been a difficult few weeks, Elaine is back in hospital and the UTI is giving her a hard time. Lots of tests, antibiotic being fed in intravenously but with limited effect. then they sent a camera inside which revealed chronic severe inflammation and took a few biopsies. They were also analysing fluids but eventually, after lots of doctor type intervention, that they could not find any infection. In the meantime Elaine is suffering and going downhill!
Then they call in the palliative care doctor and last Friday she calls a family meeting. We in the meantime are pushing for her to come home on Monday ready for her birthday on Tuesday, as she appears to be improving. She wants out of there! So at the meeting we are told things are pretty 'dire' but we are still able to arrange the release. They are very good with this and will coordinate with Silver Chain to provide us with all the special gear needed. The kids are great, especially Toni who says that she will be here all the time as needed.
Then yesterday we are told that she cannot support herself to stand up and cannot leave the bed - disaster. It appears that the night staff nearly had her fall and that one of the nurses hurt her back. I cannot believe that she has deteriorated that quickly, the previous evening she was quite able to get out of bed and stand and walk with a little bit of help) so I have long talks with her nurse but they remain adamant that she needs reassessment and is unlikely come home on Monday. We are devastated!
Then come the afternoon and Elaine needs to make short journey and the afternoon shift agrees to get her out of bed. Which they successfully do and which I do later on, with a little bit of help, to get her into a wheelchair to go for a walk. Goody we are back on track.
During the night after the meeting I realise that this is really nothing different to what our oncologist told us 3 months ago. I also asked the doctor to get me a copy of the CT scan from January 12, which she did. Reading that showed that Elaine had not deteriorated dramatically and that once again the radiotherapy had been successful. So I will reschedule our appointment with the radiation guy (i had to cancel last week) and see what can be done.
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