Keeping On Keeping On

Daily Walks help Mike's health

 

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Our Last Day Together

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 This day began with suspense.  We did not knwo when the potion would be ready, as it is a mixture with many strictly controlled components.  The Palliative Care nurse, Rebecca, of the cancer center said she would call to get a more precise time.  Mike and I were having our last breakfast when she called to say it would be ready before 2pm.   I worked hard not to whimper, sollozar in Spanish.  Mike sees me as strong and capable and I should not cry.  It is so hard.   Between Mike's rests and my reading, we talked about our travels and experiences together that Maria could gather in some of our adventures in SE Alaska, Mexico, Ireland, Lebanon, Rome, and at home and on the islands.  He finally asked for silence, the very poem of Pablo Neruda that I feel is part of our lives. At 1:30, I got the pharmacy call.  From that point, the tension rose.  I drove to get the potion and back after 2.  At 2:15 he took his first pills to ...
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At the Journeys End

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Mike has been calm and valiant over the past year and a half. He has followed the protocols, yet his cancer escaped its bounds. As we transitioned to Hospice, he was able to appreciate each day. He read the morning comics, took walks, collected the mail, read the Irish Times, and responded to email. He was also working on profiles for El Pilar, a great help. Mike and Anabel are Checking out Details This past week, he found it very difficult to get up; he was weak, his walking was unsteady, and his ability on the computer faltered. He could not walk down our long driveway to get the mail, and he found he could not work on my profiles.   I had imagined that we would go on in a simple mode, and his health would slowly change.  This past week showed that it was not in the cards. Even so, he was involved in the lovely dinner, wishing Ceci and Donna a fine return. Jonathan, his brother and Cathy his wife and son JD came up for the Saturday lunch, and he was outside on the pat...
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The Background....

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The Background....   Mike was diagnosed with bladder cancer on his birthday, May 2nd of last year. We had been planning a camping trip in our wonderful VW Vanagon and had got it all ready to go when this news came. This certainly changed our plans.  There were 2 surgeries in anticipation of 8.5 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy that initiated in September and completed in mid-October. Overlapping the treatments were trips to ER and most initiated hospitalizations. On one occasion, he was in ICU for 4 days. This was rough.  There had been more ER and hospitalizations than months since his treatments. The infections and sepsis, bleeding bladder all have made us frequent visitors to ER, familiar with the team there and on the hospital floor. Both Mike and I are grateful to the staff and have been reassured that we are not abusing the system.  Most recently, Mike was in for a major infection for 5 days, and we got out for only a week and a half. Mike went back to ...
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