Friday, February 4, 2011

A Week In Palliative Care

It has been a full week at Saanich Peninsula. Progress has been made, thank goodness. Ron has had two good days in a row. What does this mean... it means that the medications are more balanced for the pain. Ron looks much more relaxed than he has looked in the past month and a half. I am of the mind that Ron did not realize how much pain he was in until he started to feel relief.

Anxiety and sleep is not as big an issue but it is still there. The sweats has been a new development in the past couple of days. This is bothering Ron. He has read somewhere on the internet that it is a symptom of the cancer.

I have had one sleepover and will have another on Saturday night. Thank you to Tim and Tara for taking Winston for me. We have a great schedule happening with Winston. I bring him to the hospital in the morning and Tim picks him up on his way home after work, approximately 1630. Then I fetch Winston from Tim and Tara when I get home about 2130 each evening. I am so relieved that Winston is taken care of. Doug and Karen have also offered and in the future I am sure we will need their help too. If you know Winston, you will understand that he is getting a lot of attention at the hospital. Nurse Nancy takes him to the nurses station and feeds him biscuits... Winston ever so gently lifts his paw and receives his little treat. Winston also falls asleep in the chair with Ron... they look so comfortable together.

Ron has been enjoying his afternoon outings. Yesterday we met Stew, Clare and the kids at Mayfair Mall. We shopped for birthday presents, had lunch and just enjoyed being together.
Thank you kids for coming down and sharing time with us. Thank you for your love, support and encouragement.

We had an amazing dinner last night... Glen and Jill you went over the top and it was very much appreciated. The rest of you, please keep in mind, we do not expect anyone to turn this into a competition. What happened last night was typical Jill and Glen.

They showed up with a laundry basket full of goodies. Dinner was set up in the lounge. By the time the basket was emptied the table was draped in linen, four wine glasses adorned the table along with china, cutlery, flowers and candles. Dinner consisted of red wine, fresh green salad and stuffed pork chops baked with apples and cinnamon. Yes, there was dessert - fresh fruit salad and ice cream. Yes we lit the candles and got away with it for a short time before we got told. It was an awesome dinner and super company. Ron ate well. We realized last night that by seven o'clock he is tired and needs some quiet time to unwind. Ron rested in his room while Glen, Jill and I visited in the lounge.

Ron hand a great day and today was another good day. He wanted me to reassure all of you that we are not about tears and sadness. We are about happy stories and much laughter. It is keeping with our style of living. No reason for it to change now.

That said, we are coping well. We do have our moments. Sometimes they are private; Ron has his moments and I have mine. Sometimes we are together and we have a little cry and a hug. Neither one of us wants to let go of the other.

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