A Day In the life...

I decided to share our day with you...this was yesterday 11/11/09.

For whatever reason I seldom sleep more than five or six hours..

I start the day with raisin/cinnamon toast sprinkled with a bit of sugar...and coffee..black

I then prepare Bob's "breakfast"

He gets Carnation Breakfast VHC (very high calorie..560 per can) and 300 cc of water with 3tsp. of Benefiber added.....he gets these two things 3 times a day....... his meds. in the am.....first I check his blood sugar...He gets an insulin shot at bedtime so usually it's normal in the am...80's or 90's.  rises during the day into the 200 range.

the red cup is Robutisson D,... the gold is Centrum Multi Vitiman...the clear is Benzanatate

Benzanatate...this little capsule reduces cough reflex by anesthetizing stretch receptors in respiratory passages ...fortunately it dissolves in a bit of very hot water.

The ramaining cup contains

Warfarin (blood thinner),

 Amiodarone (used in the treatment of heart arrhythmias

 Prevacid, an antacid

 Meclizine, used to treat vertigo or motion sickness...he experiences a great deal of dizziness...this  rx.does not seem to be working for him.

 Terazosin  for enlarged prostate,

 SulafamethTH,  an antibiotic given for infection on his elbow..a skin tear resulting from a fall became infected...he only has two more of this to take..

I crush these medicines together and add hot water to help thin out enough to get through his feeding tube.

He has Tssionex Suspension, cough syrup with codine to use as needed. I also give him tylenol and/or Aleve when needed for headache.

Until last week he was also getting prednisone...the doctor has taken him off this. He will be getting a sonogram of his arm and if the blood clot is gone he will also be taken off blood thinner.

Next I clean and change the dressing of  his three "wounds"...elbow infection, trech opening and peg tube opening.This is also done throughout the day as needed. The opening in his throat for the trech is almost closed...not as much secretions coming through there...his elbow is healing up.

That done he usually goes back to sleep for several hours.  Today we had visits from all three Home Health people.They check his blood pressure, pulse and oxygen level.

    Rachel, the nurse, came at 10 am..she checks his vitals and anything else thats going on...she checks blood and reports to his oncologist...he, in turn, notifies us if the warfarin should be adjusted.. She checks his "wounds", changes the dressings if needed, checks to see if any supplies are needed, listens to his chest...etc.

At noon  Desirei, the PT, arrived...they worked on his leg strength..which at times is non existant. Before she left she asked if he had had any more falls...we had to say yes...around 1 am that morning he was making his exchange from bed to couch..would not wait for me to get the wheelchair and tried to use his walker...he had taken about five steps and his legs gave out...I was beside him but am unable to hold him up...he just sorta crumbled to the floor...not a hard fall against the wall or anything like that.... ..after a few moments of lying flat out in the floor trying to get past his dizziness he crawled to the couch and together we were able to pull him up onto it  Desirei said that today she is going to show him how to get up off the floor..

At 2 pm...his Speech Therapist, Lori  arrived..she worked with him for about 45 min..She spent time doing things that strengthen his throat muscles and  larynx....working toward recovering his ability to swallow.

Between their visits and for the ramainder of the day he slept. Around 6pm Eddie and the boys came over for a while.  Eddie pushed Bob around  the swimming pool area in his wheelchair.

I had (extravagently) ordered personalized license plates for our car..knowing that we would soon need Alabama plates...but I wanted a souvenir and now I have it.

While they were here Brian put them on the car for me...

Bob was in bed and back asleep by 6:30 and I joined him around 7:30...slept for a few hours...then helped him make his switch from bed to couch around 12...I stayed up at this computer(my ever present friend)  for a few hours and then took a nap of an hour or so. Up around 4am posting and ready to start this new day.