Mid Week Update 5-2

Today we reached out to hospice so Karen has better care for her symptoms. She’s still having pain in her back, and we have some new meds to help. The effort it took to help her with this was one of the deciding factors to start hospice care. We don’t want to wait too long to make arrangements, as we want help here in the home, and for the help to be able to respond quickly to any new symptoms.

Karen has asked me to cancel the appointment with physical therapy scheduled for tomorrow, but those visits will end when we start hospice anyway. We will be receiving a visit from hospice tomorrow, and I hope to have more information about that in my next blog post. I think this is a positive step, as she could use the help that hospice offers, particularly with symptom management. I’m still doing well with caring for her other needs, and am grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Right now, our primary activity when she’s awake is watching some TV. She likes her Game Show Network, and likes to sleep with it on in the background. She’s still finding enjoyment in this, and in many small things daily.

She’s still not feeling up to calls right now as talking can really take it out of her, and cause trouble breathing. But when she does feel up to a chat, please please don’t look to her to lead the conversation. I ask her daily if she wants me to reach out, and she’d like to get the symptoms under a little better control first.

I read her comments and cards to her daily, and we are grateful for all of your thoughts and prayers. I haven’t checked any of our social media since she went into the hospital, and don’t intend to do so in the near future. I just don’t have the energy for FaceBook. I tried to check it and was a bit overwhelmed.