Hubby home ...

After much discussion, it was decided that my hubby would have an endoscopy on the Monday and it showed that the tumour had narrowed his esophagus in two places. We then had a discussion with the gastro doc, who was confident that the placement of two stents was the way to go. Other discussions with our oncologoy team, raised areas of concern, but finally my hubby agreed that he would have the two stents put in. This was done on the Tuesday ... and a nervous time it was. Fortunately it all went well and he recovered with no obvious affect to his lungs.

We were still hoping for him to be released on christmas day, but the docs said he had to stay till boxing day, so that he could be guided through the ... clear fluids, full fluids and soft food choices. On christmas day the four of us went out for three hours. We found a fish and chip shop, bought a feed, then found a spot by the sea and enjoyed our dinner. It was horrible to see how quickly my hubby was exhausted by his outing, and we had to return to the hospital, so he could have pain relief.

On boxing day I left home about 7 am, so I would be at the hospital for the doctors rounds. Unfortunately my hubby's docs were on leave, but we still had a good discussion with the doc who saw him. We left with a pile of liquid morphine, morphine patches and other stuff. The letter for our pallative care team about my hubby's need for oxygen wasn't there ... but hopefully that will be followed up this week.

By the time we got home, my hubby was exhausted. Our daughter had the oxygen machine running ... so he sunk into a chair with that and liquid morphine.

That night was a horror. We didn't seem to be able to get on top of the pain, and my hubby became quite distressed. Around 9 am I phoned the emergency pallative care number and our nurse phoned the duty doctor for advice. She organised stronger liquid morphine, to be administered more frequently and a stronger pain patch. This was wonderful, as all we had to do, was collect the script, take it to the pharmacy and pay for the drugs.

The second night, my hubby had a far better rest and although I needed to massage him once through the night, his 'bones' (shoulders and back) didn't seem to ache so much. He also got out of bed and slept in the recliner for a few hours, so that pressure was being distributed differently. My hubby was amazed he'd slept so well ... and his morning was a good one. He sat in the wheelchair on our back deck for a few hours, enjoying the sun and giving our son and a friend who's visiting from NZ, instructions about what needs doing to our back area. We think he may have overdone things ... but it was great to see him enjoying the fresh air, family and friends.

Here's to tonight being similar, or better, than last night!