19 Oct Patient Experience: Day 24 Meds, Meds, & More Meds

Spoke to my father today to get an update on his appointment. The healthcare system punted my fathers care back to his primary care physician.  The appointment went pretty well.
They physician told my father that his sweats are probably related to his cancer, the enormity of all the information he was just hit with, the amount of change his mind and body are going through, and the fact that he is just not eating and drinking enough to keep his body going.
To help with the pain, they gave my father a fentanyl patch. This will help to make sure there are not as many spikes between doses of pain medication and is more consistent. They also placed my father on Zofran to help with the nausea and vomiting. The hope is that this may also help him be able to eat a bit more and keep it down. They also gave him another prescription for breakthrough pain.
I asked my father if he is feeling better. He spoke, “I am feeling a lot better than I was earlier this week. There isn’t as much pain. I ate a sandwich and had some ice cream.” His voice sounded a bit more solid than it had previously. There was less shake in it and it was louder than a faint whisper as it was yesterday.
I asked him if this also meant that he decided to not go forward with any chemotherapy. He indicated to me that he still plans to reschedule it for this coming week. He just wants to rest and feel a bit better.
My mother told me that my father is going to see the nephrologist on Monday. He will hopefully be rescheduled for the port placement on Tuesday. My father also stated that he doesn’t want chemotherapy to begin immediately after the port is placed. He feels that his body cannot physically handle all of that at once.
Today’s page is about ensuring that his pain is under control. I believe the underlying topic of today’s events is my father needing the time to digest all of the information. To figure out how to put into words the amount of change that has happened in a single swoop. To go from being healthy and planning things to do for the next 10 years to being sick and hoping to see 2014. Today my father writes about there here and now and the reality that life is fleeting. Enjoy it. Tell someone today that you love them.
Today my father ended his conversation as we always do, “I love you and God bless.”
As always, you can feel free to contact me at: CANCERGEEK@GMAIL.COM
~CancerGeek
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