Saturday, September 20, 2008

Saturday/Updates

Elaine was very tired on Saturday and spent a lot of the day sleeping. While awake, she was very happy to receive visitors but it was clear this was a day of rest for her. Despite the Morphine, Elaine still has some pain, her memory issues persist and she still has no appetite, though she will have small amounts of food from time to time.

The Hospice team did address the lack of appetite and advised that this is quite normal for patients with Elaine's condition. They further explained that Elaine's body will tell her when and what it wants to eat and there is a very good reason her body is telling her it does not want anything now. As contradictory as it may sound, Hospice explained that food would have some very negative effects; it would serve as fuel for the cancer while putting more stress on Elaine's digestive system and other organs. The nurse expained that it is OK for Elaine not to be eating and that we should not be so concerned with her lack of appetite. If visiting during meal time, please keep this in mind.

The last post failed to mention one change for Elaine, my apologies. Late Wednesday night, Elaine was placed on oxygen because the oxygen saturation levels in her blood dropped below acceptable levels. Although these levels quickly returned to normal, Elaine remains on oxygen.

Another update for the music lovers. The MP3 player has been brought back into the room and Uncle Ab brought a lot of new music on his visit last Thursday. While Elaine has been through some good days and some bad ones and it seems that lately her condition changes on an almost daily basis, one constant has been that she LOVES to listen to music and she loves to have visitors to sing along with !!! Please feel free to enjoy some music with her on your visits, the CD's are in the bottom drawer of the nightstand.

Finally, there has been a big change in Elaine's condition over the past two weeks and I hope that we have accurately reflected that on these postings. Her condition is also changing faster than it did two weeks ago so we will try to post on a daily basis as much as possible.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Elaine,
Just a note tp let you know I am thinking about you.

I decided to go to the 11:00 service today. So I have a little time this morning. I was lazy and did not want to get out of bed this morning.

It has been cool in the mornings when I am walking Bruschi. I love this time of year, I would like to have it stay like this all year.
I have never been a summer person.

I am going to Maine to visit my mom in Oct. My daughter Lisa and her luke her husband are driving and I am tagging along with them. Lewis is staying home the ride would be to long for him. His stroke left him waek on the left side and he cramps alot if sitting to long in one place.

The leaves should be at their peak of color when we get there. New England in the Fall is the so pretty.

I just bought a Credance Clear Water greatest hits CD. I love them.
Do you remeber them? I have played it every day at least twice a day.it is wonderful dancing music and a great way to get motivated into house work. I need lots of motivation when it comes to housework.

Elaine, I am thinking of you and praying for you and your family.

Elaine,
May His face shine upon you and give you peace and strength now and forever.

You are Loved
Eileen

Suzanne said...

Hey Elaine. Just catching up here at work. I was on vacation last week, Mark and I went to Disney World, again. They actually brought Debbie in from Perris to cover while I was away. I had to work at the crab store yesterday but we did have the game on. It sure is fun watching when they win! A friend of mine had a new t-shirt that said "Wacko for Flacco". Pretty funny huh?

Many customers are grateful for the blog so they can stay updated with how you are. I do give it out from time to time. I see a couple have posted comments as well.

Back to work for now.

Unknown said...

Hi Elaine,
Just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know that I'm thinking about you. Even though I have not been able to visit, you are in my thoughts and prayers each day.
Kindest regards,
Christina Partoza

Unknown said...

Hello, Elaine. I do like the new picture posted on your blog page. I'm so far behind the times, I never knew what a blog was before this. Really glad, though, that I can find out what's going on. That way, I don't have to call your parents -- even though I have checked in with them. Your mom was always such a good friend to my mom.
Keeping all of you in my prayers.
Bev