Update on Leane

Leane has been almost entirely unresponsive since yesterday evening. It was very difficult to get her meds taken last night, and it was impossible this morning because she simply wasn’t aware enough of her surroundings. The risk of choking is too great to try to cajole her into trying to swallow.

So the hospice nurse came over and instructed me to discontinue Leane’s oral meds except when she really does seem able to swallow. The nurse showed me how to use some emergency meds I keep in the fridge and ordered more meds to administer more regularly. They can all just be squeezed into her mouth in liquid form.

The nurse also had an oxygen pump and a portable bottle delivered in case Leane shows signs of hypoxia, as well as a gel pad to lie on and a trapeze for the hospital bed.

It’s now more important than ever to keep the cat from crawling around the bed all over Leane, so I’ve got Emily in a carrier and am having her taken to the vet for boarding this afternoon.

More later.

Leane at the Hard Rock

Hard Rock Casino & Hotel, 6/10/2011 (Mark's birthday)

Hanging In There With Friends

After starting Leane on home hospice care on Tuesday, Leane has actually started showing some small signs of improvement. She’s waking up fairly frequently on her own and seems to be understanding everything going on around her, though her speech is still mostly limited to single high-frequency words and phrases. I’m usually only able to get most of a bottle of Ensure into her a day, though. Her biggest problem at the moment is her wimpy husband trying to manhandle her in and out of bed, I think…

Our friends Brad and Veronica and their 7-year-old daughter Angeline from San Antonio drove up here this weekend to see Leane and we had a wonderful visit. It had been a long time since I’d seen such a broad grin on Leane’s face as when she looked over at Angeline — we hadn’t seen them in three years or so. We all sort of hung out in the bedroom, and when Leane could be a part of it, she was. Our friends went and picked up some food at a regionally famous bbq pit and we had a little picnic right here.

They’d heard me say that Leane was asking for a piece of cake the other day and I didn’t have any, so they stopped somewhere and picked up some chocolate éclairs with Bavarian creme filling and some apple turnovers. I was able to feed Leane half an éclair! The most solid food she’d had since those skillet-basted eggs I made her when we got home from her PET scan on Monday!

They had to head back to San Antonio this morning, but then at 12:30 our friend Jo came over with a nice fresh cheeseburger for me — Jo’s right, I haven’t been paying very much attention to my own nourishment lately. Although we do have a house full of food, much of it requires cooking. Cooking is my hobby, but there aren’t enough hours in the day. So this afternoon I took Jo’s admonishment to heart and went through the freezer, throwing out everything that nobody here is going to eat now that I’ve quit eating potatoes (glycemic index too high). I’m putting some microwaveable dinners, sides and snacks on the shopping list to fill the freezer back up.

It turns out that we have quite a number of great friends like Brad, Veronica and Jo, both local to Bartlesville and farther afield. Those of you reading this who know me know that I don’t say that lightly — to me, a friend is somebody who can sing my tune when I forget the words. I’ve been treated to quite a choir performance lately.

It’s time for a long-overdue “Thank You” to all of our great friends! Thank you!

Latest on Leane

This is husband Mark sitting in for Leane. I’m pasting in the email below that I’ve been sending to friends and family. I don’t know how often I’ll have a chance to post here, but you can reach me at .

Leane just started her 17th 4-week cycle of continuous chemo (3 on, 1 off) and we started to see mild neurological side-effects about six months ago, mosty affecting her coordination and balance. This and her chemo-induced muscle weakness got progressively worse until she was dependent on a wheelchair and couldn’t get in and out of bed without help.

About three weeks ago we started noticing brief 20-minute episodes of aphasia and confusion. She saw a neurologist and he said it was TIA’s or mini-seizures from chemo or both, and put her on preventive meds for both.

These episodes grew steadily longer and more pronounced, and from Sunday through Tuesday of this week she slept more or less round the clock and was monosyllabic and incoherent when she did wake up for a moment.

A pain crisis she woke up with Tuesday morning put her in the ER, at which point the consensus of the home health nurses, the ER doctor and finally the oncologist was that she needed to start home hospice care. So we got that started as soon as we got home from the ER.

Fortunately, Leane seems to be starting to do better. Yesterday Wednesday was the first day in a while that was better, not worse, than the day before. She’s still sleeping a lot, but she’s also waking up on her own and asking for juice, Ensure or a bacon cheeseburger. 🙂

For my part I’m pretty much running on adrenaline and caffeine, but the hospice provider has trained caregivers for about $10/hour so I’m going to have them spend the night once in a while so I can get a good night’s sleep. I’m no good to Leane if I’m totally exhausted, and I also have a fairly intense day job (though I do work entirely from home).

I’ll keep you apprised.