Update on my Dad

Thank you Julia.

My best wishes to you and your sister

Gavin

Hi Lainy, yes the hospice are taking great care of dad and it is good to know that he is in such good and capable hands. I forgot to say yesterday that dad also has a temperature and the the doctor thinks that his sickness may also be down to the kidney problems. Thanks for telling me about the kidney infections and the confusion that your mum had. It’s not nice seeing the effect that confusion has on people.

Hi Marion, I will try and speak to the doctor again today when I go up to see dad and I hope she has some good news for us. The doctor is really nice and spent some time explaining things to us and mum really liked her, she is really good with people which I guess you would have to be working in the hospice. I’m sure dad did enjoy the fudge and I will see how much of it he has left, if any!

Hi Kris, yes sleeping in the hospital is not easy and dad struggled with it big time last year when he was in for his 7 weeks, so I can imagine it must have been hard for you also. I remember one time last year when dad was having trouble sleeping and he was due to try temazepam. He had fallen asleep for a bit before he was due to take it, and the nurses woke him up to give him it. He was not amused, especially as he did not get back to sleep!

Thanks everyone as always and my best to you all.

Gavin

Hi all,

Saw dad this afternoon. Just as we went in he was getting taken away for another ultrasound and an X-ray. Whilst he was away, I spoke with his doctor there. She said dad has a problem with his kidneys and also an infection. They are not sure yet if this is the cancer causing this or something else and are looking for the cause of it. If it is not the cancer then they think they should be able to sort it quite easily, but if it is the cancer causing this then they might not be able to sort it.

They still have him on the sodium drip but have stopped the syringe driver just now. He was not sick at all yesterday, which they were very happy about, but he was sick 3 times today and they were hoping that yesterdays progress would have been carried into today. They like the fact that he has some appetite and that he asked me for some fudge and stuff today. But I think they are really looking for the sickness to stop soon as a good sign.

They have pretty much stopped a lot of his meds right now, and the codeine he is only given just now when he gets pain. The doctor does not want codeine building up in his kidneys just now. His hand is not shaking as much today as it has been the last few days. Dad is still knackered as he didn’t really sleep again last night, and he said that the ultrasound and X-rays really tired him out and he was sick during them. When he came back, the nurses made him some toast which he ate and he had something to drink.

They are taking blood tests each day and we will see what they reveal tomorrow and also what the scans are showing. We left him earlier as he just wanted to try and get some sleep and wanted to be on his own. He was getting a little bit confused again and his doctor is well aware of this. Tomorrow we are getting a bed support delivered to the house so that when he is home, he will be able to sit up in bed and hopefully be a bit more comfortable.

Thanks everyone.

Gavin

Morning Lainy, Thank you as always for your kind words and good wishes.

And thank you also for letting me know about your secret weapon in fighting the hiccups, Brioschi. I’ve had a look round on the net and like the Sarna cream, it only seems to be available in the USA. Which is a shame as it sounds like it would have helped dad as it certainly seems to have helped Teddy, especially with his eating of the wrong foods! I will see how dad is later when we go up to see him. He wants me to bring him up some of the fudge I got last week at the market in town and a few biscuits, so I guess that his appetite is back a bit, which I think the Haloperidol may be helping with.

Went round to see mum earlier, she is real tired and not sleeping still. I guess it must be hard for her trying to sleep in the house on her own just now. Am waiting for the tilers to turn up here and they are late! Hope the arrive soon as I have to go out again and I could do with my flat looking more like my flat and less like a building site!

Hope you and Teddy have a good day and my best to you both.

Gavin

Hi everyone,

Saw dad today and it is the first day in a while that he hasn’t been sick. Had quite a bit to eat todaycompared to other days, bacon, eggs and porridge for breakfast with some roast beef for lunch. All of which he had kept down by the afternoon which is good. Not big portions, but much more than he has had of late. He didn’t sleep at all so was knackered.

He has a sodium chloride drip in one arm and the syringe driver in the other. They have stopped all his tablets just now apart from the propranolol and solpadols and his syringe driver is mainly made up of anti nausea medication. At first he seemed quite talkative, then he seemed to go down a bit and it was hard to make out what he was saying a lot. He really does not like having these drips and stuff in him right now and it was a real effort for him to move around in bed. Going to the toilet really tired him out badly and he struggled to get his legs back in bed. I didn’t stay long as he said he just wanted to be on his own and try and get some sleep. He also has the hiccups really bad and it looks like it is causing him serious pain. he has had them for about a week, but it seems to be getting a lot worse. He insists he is not in pain, but I’m not so sure considering the look on his face.

Hopefully tomorrow he will be a bit better. Perhaps it was just the way the meds are affecting him just now through the driver and maybe the Haloperidol as well. We will see tom. Mum wasn’t able to make it there today as she was having a real bad day, so it was just me. Her sister came over to see her tonight while I was out and she has to see her nurse tom for a check up. Not sure if I should be posting this stuff here or in the hospice section right now. Anyway, we will see what tomorrow brings.

Hi Janet, thank you for your support and kind words. It has been a long time since I have been called a lad! Many years ago or what seems to me to have been many years anyway!

Hi Julia, King prawn sag sounds good, have never had that before! The tandoori mixed grill was tasty, but was too much to manage for me. I can’t eat as much as I used to, which is a good thing I guess! And I’m glad that it also did you some good to get out.

Glad you’re feeling better now after the flu jab. And I hope you enjoyed the meal that your sister made for you. It sounds like she enjoyed making it for you and as you say, a win win for you both and hopefully a good night in!

Hi Marion, yes I am pretty tired right now but I’m just getting on with it. I will try Bazel’s breathing again tonight and see how I get on. But I am used to getting by on less than 6 or 7 hours sleep, even if broken. I can’t even remember the last time I got a good 8 hours or so of unbroken sleep! I guess that I have just gotten used to it over the years so I can’t complain. Perhaps it is the case that when the mind wakes up, then the body follows and that is it for the night. I am glad that you are getting more than 7 or 8 hours a night a night now.

As always, my thanks to you all and also my best wishes as well.

Gavin