Sunday at Hospice

Today, as it has been all week, was a beautiful, sunny, crisp fall day.

Michael was about the same. He seems to be the most "talkative" in the morning when we all get up. He really moves his arm around and fiddles with our hands. He likes the mouth moistener brew they make here and touches his mouth when he wants us to swab some more on. His IV, which was in his hand, finally had to come out, so his meds (swelling and seizure) are given subcutaneously - under the skin in fatty tissue. I apologize if I misspelled that.

Bruce's sister and her husband drove up from Georgia on Saturday, and will probably leave tomorrow. Michael's sister Katie drove back to Chicago today to get back to her architecture classes. Brother Jon is hanging in there with us. Looks like Bruce's brother Tad will come in from Colorado later this week.

Of course we don't know how long Michael will hang in with us, so we take every moment to tell him we love him and are with him, hold his hand, and just be here. The hospice folks continue to be amazingly compassionate and attentive.

Thank you all again, and I hope these posts help keep you informed. Your messages mean everything to us, and to Mike. The tagged photos in FaceBook are great as well. We love seeing Mike having fun with his friends.

Bruce

Saturday at Hospice

Saturday at Hospice.

Michael is about the same. He is communicating through his hand and squeezes, points his pinky, and moves his arm from time to time when he wants to tell us something. Mostly it's to just hold our hands. We are constantly letting him know we are with him and love him.

He has a guardian mouse with him, and Haagen Daas, his stuffed black and white cow which he got when he was about eight.

Mike's sister stayed the night and declared that the towel dispenser is haunted. Apparently it's a very hygienic ghost, and it spits out towels at random times to remind us to wash our hands.

Mike' mom loves your messages, as does Mike and the rest of his family.

Bruce

To Hospice

Hi, all of Mike's friends.

Today, a bed opened up at the Hubbard House Hospice in Charleston, WV. We moved Mike there this afternoon. It is a wonderful place with wonderful people. We can even take the dogs up there to visit. We certainly will.

Mike is comfortable, and I know is thrilled to hear all your messages. They mean a great deal to Mike and all of us..

Bruce

Not much new

Michael slept peacefully last night. Michael's little brother, Jon and I slept at home with the doggies. Mike's big sister Katie and Barb stayed with Mike at the hospital.

Mike is still on an IV for hydration and swelling meds. Hospice would probably disconnect the IV. So we're trying to come to terms with that and decide if that's what Mike would want. It's very hard.

Bruce

This is Mike's dad. Yesterday, Michael would not wake up.

Mike is in the hospital now. The docs said that the swelling and tumor pressue have squished his brain stem. This is the reason he is largely unresponsive. He is breathing on his own.

Michael was clear in his desire not to have any measures taken to prolong his life. He did say that medicine for swelling and other stuff like that is ok. He was put on a high dose of medicine to try to reduce the swelling. Cognitively, Michael was always pretty good. Hejust had trouble getting what he wanted to say out.

This morning, after about 10 hours of the medicine, the nurse came in and told him she was going to take his blood pressure. Michael raised his arm for the cuff! So we (Mom & Dad) think that the reduced swelling has helped some, and that he still understands what's going on. He is unable to open his eyes, though he blinks when we touch his face. We don't think he will recover, but it's important that we stay with him and continue talking to him.

Hospice is coming in this morning to talk to us about options, home care or at their facility, which is supposed to be very nice.

I'll keep you posted as we know more. Thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

Bruce