Thursday, August 29, 2024
Last Night's Sleep
6 hr 31 min
Today's Forecast
Today: Mainly cloudy. Wind becoming northeast 20 km/h this afternoon. High 25°C. Humidex 31°C. UV index 7 or high.
Tonight: Partly cloudy. Wind northeast 20 km/h becoming light this evening. Low 17°C.
Air Quality: 2 - Low Risk
Today's Journal
We had two appointments at the Cancer Center today. Our first appointment was with our medical oncologist. The reason I say "our" is she's been my medical oncologist for 7 years.
She explained that it has come to the point where the immunotherapy is no longer working for Dennis, and there is no other treatment that would actually prolong his life.
The good news is that Dennis won't be having to go back and forth to the cancer center anymore. He doesn't have to go for blood work every Wednesday or to the cancer center every Thursday or for an immunotherapy treatment every third Friday. He doesn't have to go for CT scans or MRIs or bronchoscopes or any of that on a regular basis. They may do a CT scan down the road if there's some major change but there's nothing coming up in the near future.
She set up a telephone appointment for Dennis 6 weeks from now just to touch base.
We had an hour to wait in between appointments so they gave us a private examination room that we could wait in and they hooked Dennis up to the hospital oxygen.
Then we saw Dr. Duboff the symptoms management specialist. She went over all of Dennis's medications and changed some of the meds. Dennis is going to try a Trelegy puffer (https://www.trelegy.com) which has the three medications all in one unit. Right now he does three different puffers every 4 hours. She's going to check with him via phone in a few weeks to see how he's doing and if he prefers taking the one puffer twice a day, instead of three puffers four to five times a day.
Now that they have stopped treatments for Dennis that means he is now eligible to have certain OTC things for free. One of them is going to be the Ensure plus. It will now be covered by prescription. And we will no longer have to buy Buckley's cough syrup (which has been costing us nearly $60 a month).
We are going to have a palliative Emergency Care box delivered to the house. It contains 2 days worth of every medication or treatment that he could possibly need in an emergency. The oncologist is going to customize the box for Dennis's specific type of cancer, and it will contain everything an EMT or a palliative care nurse would need in an emergency. It's to prevent him having to go to the ER in case of emergency. We call the nurse and they call the palliative EMT guys who come to the house to administer the medication. There's all kinds of stuff in the box including bandages and a catheter and pain meds and stuff in case of a heart attack and medications that can be given by injection in case he can't swallow.
We are also going to have a palliative care doctor come to the house now and then so that he doesn't have to go back to the cancer center.
She explained all about the four stages of dying and what to expect at each stage.
* Years left
* Months left (currently)
* Weeks left
* Days/Hours left
The oncology nurse said that she has worked with palliative cancer patients for the last 13 years and in all that time she is only known of two lung cancer patients who hemorrhaged. And Dr Duboff said in her career she has only seen two cancer patients whose lungs collapsed. And we're talking about thousands of people with lung cancer that they have treated over the years. So while there is a possibility of hemorrhaging and lung collapse it's not nearly as likely to happen as the respirologist made it sound like.
Basically it will likely be a slow decline over the next few months, and he will be able to stay at home, in his cozy chair with whatever meds he needs to keep him comfortable and pain-free.
When he gets to the point that he can no longer move around and is in bed all day and can't take himself to the bathroom or do anything on his own, he likely won't be eating very much and he could even have trouble swallowing ... that's typically the stage where you either go to hospice or you request medical assistance in dying. The main object is to prevent suffering.
I know it sounds horribly gruesome but we actually felt kind of relieved when we left there. It doesn't sound like anything is imminent or disaster could strike at any moment. We have some amazing doctors and nurses, so compassionate.
Today's Daily Affirmations
* I embrace healing this season.
* I can easily connect with my highest self.
* Nobody can disturb my inner peace.
* I trust the guidance from my higher self.
* I love counting my blessings every day.
* I can feel the abundance in my life.
* Ease, freedom, and joy are available to me.
* I begin my day with a sense of calm and relaxation.
Today's Exercise
9:20 am - "Outdoor Walk" @cemetery w/Tickles
17 minutes / 1299 steps / 1.03 km
4:47 pm - "Outdoor Walk" @park w/Tickles
12 minutes / 914 steps / 0.62 km
Today's Total Steps:
8963
