Aug. 20: Another end-of day update… I went into work at Gathering Waters for an hour this morning and then headed over to Mom’s house for the day. She had a doctor’s appointment at 11:30 with Dr. Allen, the doctor who did some of her past scopes when she had internal bleeding. We were hoping to get some advice from him on how to proceed with a couple treatment options. Mom slept pretty well last night. She took a shower this morning, but it wiped her out so completely, it was pretty hard for her to get ready for her appointment. We ended up calling her doctor instead and talking to him through speaker phone. He reiterated the sentiment that trying to lessen the block in Mom’s portal vein with blood thinner is not a good idea. We talked more about the idea of trying a “Denver Shunt” to keep the fluid (the ascites) that builds up in her abdomen in her body instead of draining through the catheter she has in her belly. Dr. Allen felt that the main advantage of applying a Denver Shunt is that you don’t lose so much albumin (protein) from the body. Mom’s blood pressure was really low today…it’s often very low…and a lack of albumin probably adds to her feeling dizzy and tipsy and less sharp. Dr. Allen put in an order for some blood tests that the hospice nurses can draw at home tomorrow. From there, they’ll see if she is low on albumin, and if she is, she can get transfusions for that. Perhaps it will be a small help to her.
After that excitement, Mom was totally exhausted and crashed in her bed for a few hours. Joe, Maretta, and I talked for a while, and then Maretta and I went our and ran some errands. The kids are both in the midst of making really hard decisions about going back to school for the semester. Maretta is also struggling a lot about whether and how to change her wedding plans (currently scheduled for May 24). These are such tough choices, and it is so very hard to know what the best decisions are. They are both excellent students, and taking off a semester wouldn’t stop either from graduating. There are some really serious pros and cons to either decision, and I wish I could make things easier for them.
Tomorrow morning we are meeting with some of Mom’s new team of hospice nurses. Already I am so glad we can use their services. Instead of exhausting Mom beyond belief to go in to the lab to get her blood drawn, someone can come to our house and do it here. I also got a call tonight from Mom’s dear friend Nancy from the Twin Cities. She called from the road…saying that she was on her way down to visit because she really needed to see Mom. While in general, Mom is really much too weak and tired for visitors, it feels good to see the strong the bonds she has with people as they pulled tightly during this difficult time.
If you’ve emailed me in the last few days in response to all that is going on with Mom’s health, thank you! I check my email regularly, and I’ve been reporting to Mom who I’m hearing from. However, I haven’t gotten my act together to reply to any of the notes yet. All the notes feel like little hugs, and I’ve
been getting a steady dose. Thank you.