He Is Home!

Dad got home at 1:00 today. 2 ladies from Hospice came for his first visit. One was a nurse and the other one was a social worker. They talked with the family and got dad set up with the things he needed. He was very happy to be home and relaxing in his own recliner. He was really unsteady and still very weak. He still doesn't have a very big appetite and not much sounds good to him. The one thing he said he missed was Lena's pizza, so that is what we had for dinner tonight. He had a few visitors today. Jerzie got a chance to come and see Papa today which made Dad very happy. There is nothing like her saying "Love you Papa!" Uncle Randy stopped to visit and had dinner with us. Dad and Sharon's friends Dave and Terry stopped by too. He was happy to see everyone. He also had a lot of phone calls. Please leave a comment or email him. We will make sure he sees them all.

Coming Home!

I got a phone call from one of Dad's nurses 10 minutes before I punched out at work on Monday. She told me that they were going to have a family meeting at 9:30 AM on Tuesday. She also asked if there was any way that someone could come spend the night with Dad to give him support. I said I wasn't sure and asked what was going on. She said she couldn't give me details. I left work. Thank God Chris was there to pick me up. We went straight to Kim's house and told him about the phone call. He called the nurse back and she told Kim the same thing. Kim decided that he would go stay with Dad. Kim didn't have a very good night. Dad was very out of it.

We had a family meeting on Tuesday. We got to Roswell at 9:00 AM. Dad was lying in the hospital bed and looked very worn down. Two of Dads doctors had a meeting with us. They told us that there was lymphoma in his liver and there was nothing else they could do for him. They said we could take him home and they would set everything up with hospice if that is what Dad wanted. Dad said that he wants to come home. We are waiting for hospice to get things all set up so we can bring him home. We are hoping to get him home before he is too weak to come home. We all told the doctor that we didn't want him in any kind of pain and that he had suffered enough. They said that we could leave him on his morphine pump so he had control of the pain. They said that he could be coming home today or tomorrow.

New Best Friend!

Dad has a new best friend. Dr. Smiley has put him on a morphine button where he can get morphine every 15 minutes. He is still having his normal pain and now has more because of the liver biopsy. His liver is swelling quite a bit from the biopsy and what ever is going on with it. They have also put him on a steroid once a day and an anti-fungal medication.

He has lost his appetite. Things that used to be his favorites don't even sound good any more. He said yesterday that the thought of eating makes him sick sometimes. He is down to 137 pounds. He is getting way too skinny. The bandage on his tummy is were they did his biopsy. He told us that he isn't ready to come home yet. He doesn't feel that he is strong enough. We should get the final results of his biopsy on Monday or Tuesday. This is the worst part. We don't like the waiting. The Dr. has given us a heads up with what it could be, but they want to be positive of what is going on with him. He is at the best place to be taken care of.

Not Sure Yet!

We still don't have all of the results back from Dads biopsy. I talked to Dr. Smiley last night and she said it may take a couple of days to get all of the tests run on it. For now, Dad will be staying in the hospital. He is pretty sore from the biopsy, so they have him on morphine for pain. That should help some. We will update you when we can.

Gave Us A Scare!

On Tuesday night dad was having very bad stomach pains. He was having a hard time breathing because he was in so much pain. Around 8:30 they got him in the car and took him back to Roswell. He didn't have a fever, but they thought that he might have an infection somewhere.

Chris and I went out yesterday morning to be with him. He had to have a needle biopsy done on his liver and he was very nervous about it. When we got there, he told us that he wasn't going through any of this again. "This is it!" He went down to have the biopsy around 1:00 PM. He got back to the room around 2:15. We haven't found out the results yet.

By the time we left, he was feeling a little better. The doctor said that dad will have to stay in the hospital at least through the weekend.

We will keep you posted.

Picnic!

We brought a picnic with us when we went to see Dad and Sharon this weekend. We cooked hot dogs when we got there. Everyone went outside while Chris was cooking them. Dad hates wearing his mask, but he has to be very careful not to get any kind of infection.

Here is a picture of him being a smart a** and smiling for the camera!!!

Sammy and his girlfriend Sue even came outside for a little while to get some fresh air.

Dad had an appointment at the clinic Saturday. For some reason all of his counts dropped. He started a new pill and they said it could make his platelets drop, but yesterday morning was the first time he took the pill. He has to go back on Monday to be tested again. He was doing pretty well other wise. He is really ready to come home. He wants to see his house. If all goes well we may be bringing him home next weekend.

What Is Missing?

When you look at this picture do you see something missing? We had been on this elevator many many times at Roswell Park and it took us a while, but something is missing!!

Dad is doing pretty good. His numbers are still going up and still have a ways to go, but they are slowly going up. He is still very tired. He says the weather hasn't helped with that since it has been so gloomy. He has lost his appetite. He really can't afford to do that, but the doctor says that it is normal. He needs to eat what sounds good to him when it sounds good. The one problem with that is that he can't have any leftovers. (he can't get a fungal or a bacterial infection) Everything has to be fresh.

The number 4 is missing!!

Floor number 4 is the maintenance floor!!