Chad has had a couple of “good” days.
He hasn’t fallen or been severely agitated since Sunday.
We just moved him over to a medicine patch that will control his pain medications.
The major advantage is that he doesn’t have to swallow the extended release pills anymore (after the patch builds up in his system, anyway) and he will have a constant stream of medicine in his bloodstream.
We have prioritized his medications and have taken away a few things that are not key to his comfort at this point.
He has been in bed a lot since Sunday and his appetite seems to be going down a bit.
It’s highly likely that he is at a steroid plateau and we may need to increase the dosage just a bit to “perk” him up.
He can’t really distinguish levels of pain – he just shakes his head when I ask if something hurts.
But he has pointed to his chest and rib cage quite a bit since last night.
I often see him with his head in his hands, sitting in his favorite chair. Or, he’ll be sitting up, with his eyes half closed.
Those are both huge signs to me that he’s feeling more pain than he should be.
The nurse ordered a shower bench for him to use, and it arrived yesterday.
He hasn’t used it yet – and took a shower without assistance just to prove that he could.
If you know Chad, you know that is just his style — he will do what he sets out to do. Or give it the best effort he can. He’s always been that way.
He’s been up for three hours today.
He awoke at 1pm, ate lunch and had his meds. He promptly returned to bed at 2pm.
He woke up again at 5pm; ate and got his meds. Then back to bed at 7pm.
I suspect he’ll be up again in a couple of hours to grab a snack before retiring for the night.
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Thank you to everyone is has been using the MealBaby site to help us cover meals for the next few weeks.
I have been absolutely exhausted and have lost my appetite, so it’s been difficult to even think about preparing meals for my family.
I thank each of you who has (or will) brought a meal or provided meal gift cards.
I really appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness.
I never knew how many of my friends (and strangers alike) were such good cooks!
You can participate by clicking on the link located on the top right sidebar.
THANK YOU!