This past week Dorene's health took a very rough turn. She ended up going to the emergency room on Monday because her nausea, pain and breathing issues intensified. The thought was that maybe she had pneumonia but if she does, it is in an early stage. They changed meds, gave her antibiotics and the next day she met with her oncologist. Basically, this is the progression of the disease. They did change her meds again and that seems to have helped with her nausea but even with meds she has increasing chest pain is constantly exhausted and has needed a lot of sleep.
I mentioned in the last post that Matt had contracted a parasite that made him extremely ill and sent him to the hospital. Well... last week Matt had a piece of food catch in his throat at a business lunch which sent him to the hospital in an ambulance where after sedating him to scope his throat they sent him home with pictures of his throat which is scarred and swollen from the intense vomiting he experienced during the illness. In the photos are suspicious dark areas which the ER doctors were concerned about. They showed the photos to Dorene's oncologist and she said Matt needs to have his throat biopsied asap. There is the concern that he may have espohgeal cancer. Matt is in the process of making the appointment needed to have this properly diagnosed. I will keep you up to date.
God... please give Dorene and Matt a break. Please...
There is not an elloquent or gentle way to say this... the 'less than a year' the doctors quoted Dorene seem to be happening very quickly. Dorene said that with how she feels right now she can't imagine making it through the winter. She was frightened enough that she asked her oncologist about that awful chemo that was once discussed. The one the oncologist said she'd not want Dorene to take because of how sensitive she is to chemicals. If Dorene thought there was a chance of it helping I think she'd try it, but with how awful she feels right now I don't think she can imagine making it through that treatment. It seems a lose-lose situation.
They were also referred to Hospice. They meet with someone this Tuesday to start the getting to know each other process. Hospice will start by helping to manage Dorene's pain. They will send a nurse to Dorene once or twice a week to see if her meds need adjusting. This will save Dorene and Matt from needing to travel for this type of basic need. They also need to meet nurses, find someone they are comfortable with so that when Dorene needs full time care they have already arranged who that will be.
Our Mom is going to stay with Dorene and Matt soon... we're just working out the flight arrangements. Mom and I will be... on-stand-by... to be there as they need us. We want to be there as much as possible to help in any way we can but we also have to allow for Dorene, Matt and Candace to have some time to theirselves. I know that Matt's oldest friend is coming for a week also to help out. And as I mentioned, Candace will be there where she can.
Dorene had hoped to spend her birthday in November in California to see family... she's waiting to see if this new med program and this much needed rest is going to help her feel up to that. I know I'm writing a lot of bad news here but remember that Day by Day is how things are and it is possible that with better medication monitoring Dorene will rebound again and find more strength.
For now... Dorene has been so weak she hasn't been up for talking on the phone much but feel free to leave a message of Love if you want or send an email. If you don't have Dorene's email touch base with me and I'll get it to you. And please don't take it personally if you don't hear back from her for awhile... I know you'll understand that when you are weak talking and corresponding is a big effort.
With Love,
Dorene's Sister, Deborah
xoxoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment