Florida – July, 2017

Saturday July, 1 – Saturday, July 8, 2017

Saturday, 7/1 – We bought a new car today.  It is a Ford Explorer Limited.  The color was called sunset last year – this year it is called canyon ridge.  I think it’s the color of Georgia clay. 

Sunday, 7/2 – We went to church, then stopped by JP’s to pick up some of the things that we left in the Kia Soul.  We did not trade it in, so JP is keeping it at his house for the time being.  That should give Vanessa more opportunities to practice her driving.  Vanessa came over in the evening to spend the night with us.

Monday, 7/3 – We took Vanessa with us as we drove to Moffitt to get a prescription and then on to the rehabilitation center where my father lives in Ocala.  When we got there, my brother, Bill and his wife, Mary, were already visiting with Dad on the patio.  They are in Florida for the Fourth of July. 

When we left there, we went out State Road 40 to Dad’s cabin.  He has decided to sell the place and I was meeting my brother Rick (who is handling the sale) to discuss what needs to be removed and put into storage.  It is not often that the three of us “kids” get together, so we asked Vanessa to take our picture standing in front of the cabin.

Pictured left to right are, my brother Rick, me (Charlene), and my brother Bill.  I am the oldest and Bill is the youngest.  After a short visit, we headed back to Palmetto dropping Vanessa off at the family home and returning to our rental house.  Rick was soon in bed as it was a long day.

Tuesday, 7/4 – Happy Fourth of July.  We drove to Moffitt for Rick to receive his 2^nd chemotherapy infusion on this new protocol.  His blood pressure was very low when we got to the infusion center, which they said was a sign of dehydration.  So, they gave him some hydration fluid along with his chemo. He was tired when we returned home, about 5 p.m., so we let friends and family know that we would not be going out to see the fireworks tonight.

Wednesday, 7/5 – The home health care nurse and the physical therapist came but Rick wasn’t feeling well.  His blood pressure was low and he had started vomiting.  While the home health care nurse was here, we called Moffitt and talked to Dr. Tan’s nurse.  He recommended that I stop giving him his blood pressure medicine until it returned to a normal range for a couple of days.  He said to call back if the persistent nausea continued.

Thursday, 7/6 – We enjoyed a visit with our minister in the morning and took a ride in the afternoon stopping at an auto electronics place in Palmetto.  We scheduled an appointment to have an inverter that we bought hard wired in the new car on Monday.  Rick was sick a number of times in the afternoon.

Friday, 7/7 – Rick was sick again on rising, so I called the nurse at Moffitt.  He returned my call around 8:30 and said to bring him in to the DRC.  When we got there, they gave him a nausea medicine (Compazine) via IV.  Then they found a new nausea medicine that is liquid that they told us to try (Phernegan).  They confirmed that he was dehydrated and needed magnesium.  They gave him a dose of the new nausea medicine before he ate some cream of chicken soup and Jello.  After the hydration was complete, they drained about 400mls of fluid from his right lung. 

Saturday, 7/8 – We had a quiet morning.  After the home healthcare nurse came by to check on Rick, we went by the Ford place to sign some more papers, then returned home to enjoy supper with JP and his family.

Sunday, July 9 through Saturday, July 15

Sunday, 7/9 – We wished a Happy 18^th Birthday to our great niece, Savannah Howard of Lebanon, Kentucky. 

Rick wasn’t up to going to church, so I drained over 400 mls of fluid from his right lung this morning.  He went on-line to renew our vessel documentation with the Coast Guard, while I worked on a list of questions for our builder that we discussed with JP and Kellie when they were over last night.

Monday, 7/10 – Rick went with me to the dentist’s office for my noon appointment to get my new crown put on.  Then we went to JP’s for a short time before taking the new car to have the inverter installed so we can plug in the oxygen concentrator in and use it while driving.  We took Rick back home and then JP and I went to the T-Mobile store for him to upgrade his smartphone and then to get my haircut before returning to the store to pick up the Explorer.  When I got home, it was pouring rain and I found Rick resting in bed. 

Tuesday, 7/11 – Today we went to the builder’s design studio with JP to review the electrical plans.  Rick went with me, but stayed in the car.  The meeting was over in about an hour and we returned home.

Wednesday, 7/12 – After sending birthday wishes to our nieces, Melissa and Mary (Savannah’s Mom), we left the house around 10:30 heading to Dad’s cabin in the Ocala Forest.  While stopped for gas, just outside of Ocala, we received a phone call from the surgeon that is scheduled to remove the stent tomorrow.  He told Rick that it was not necessary to take the stent out, and, in fact, could be quite dangerous.  After listening to the pros and cons, Rick told him that he wanted to proceed with the removal.  While at the cabin for a couple of hours, Rick rested and I started gathering all of the family photos.  Rick’s brother, Edward, arrived and started wrapping all of the pictures for safe storage in the plastic tubs I brought with us.  I also gathered most of Dad’s important papers to bring home with us and went to the bank to retrieve the original deed for the cabin from the safe deposit box.  Even though the house is now part of Dad’s trust, I thought my brother could use the information on the deed when he puts a new fence in.  We loaded the car up and continued to Gainesville, where we had hotel reservations for the night.

 Thursday, 7/13 – When they were ready for Rick to go back for pre-op, they told Edward and me that there was only room for one of us, so I went with Rick.  JP arrived about a half hour later and they let me bring him back to see his father before the procedure which was eventually accomplished about 1 ½ hours after scheduled.  After removing the stent, the surgeon, Dr. Yang,  met with me, JP, and Edward and told us that things went relatively well, but the inside of Rick’s esophagus was fragile and that he had had to cauterize many small bleeders at the end of the procedure.  Because of this, they wanted to keep him overnight for observation.  Rick’s throat didn’t bother him nearly as much as the constipation that he was suffering from.

Friday, 7/14 – When I arrived at the hospital, Rick said that he had not seen a doctor yet.  We asked the nurse about getting his right lung drained through the Pleur X catheter and she said that it was ordered but the charge nurse had to do it.  As the day drew on, the charge nurse tried several times to drain Rick, but never had the right equipment.  I finally told the nurse that we wanted to see a doctor.  Within a few minutes, a doctor came in from Dr. Yang’s staff.  He asked Rick a few questions and told him that as far as they were concerned he could be discharged.  We explained that we were getting very frustrated because we had not seen a doctor and had no idea that they may want him overnight again which would require me to make another last-second reservation.  (I recommend the Country Inn and Suites in Gainesville.  The staff there is super!) He said that he would call the doctor who was now in charge.  It wasn’t very long before that doctor called.  She said that she had been by to see Rick in the early morning and he seemed so miserable and weak that she felt he should stay another night.  We agreed to do so, if they could drain his lung and relieve his constipation.  As it turned out, they could do neither, so at 3:00 we asked to be discharged.  They immediately complied with our request and we left the hospital at 4:45.  We got on Interstate 75 headed south and immediately ran into a traffic jam.  We assumed it was just Friday afternoon 5:00 traffic, so passed one exit before Edward called and told us that there was a major accident on the Interstate and traffic was backed up for miles.  The next exit was 8 miles away and it took over 2 hours to get there.  We finally arrived home at 10 p.m.  I drained 300 mls from Rick’s lung before he went to bed.
This click to find out cialis 40 mg is a situation where his manhood is challenged.

Saturday, 7/15 – I drained another 350 mls of fluid from Rick’s lung before making a quick trip to the grocery store.  Rick ate a scrambled egg for breakfast.   I made tuna fish salad for lunch, but he said he would rather have some cantaloupe.  For supper we had yellow rice, black beans and a little barbequed pulled pork, and he cleaned his plate!

Sunday, 7/16 – We spent a quiet day at home. 

Monday, 7/17 – The home healthcare nurse came by to check on Rick in the morning.  We talked to a nurse at Moffitt, telling him that Rick has been experiences a burning sensation around the area of his catheter.  An appointment was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

Tuesday, 7/18 – We traveled to Tampa to the Moffitt Cancer Center on the University of South Florida campus for scheduled blood work and chemotherapy.  BUT, he was throwing up when we arrived for the bloodwork.  They took him to the DRC to get the vomiting under control and admitted him before the day was out.

Wednesday, 7/19 – The tests showed that there is a significant narrowing in Rick’s esophagus caused by scar tissue.  They explained to us that the narrowing is like a funnel.  When you put too much in or too fast, it backs up and can potentially overflow from the esophagus into his lungs (aspiration).  This could cause infection/pneumonia. 

Thursday, 7/20 – Another day spent in the hospital trying to figure out how best to solve Rick’s problems.

Friday, 7/21 – We have agreed to have a feeding tube put in Rick.  They tell us that his esophagus is too fragile for them to put in another stent at this time.  JP came up to visit his Dad today and was with us when the doctors talked to us about his alternatives.

Saturday, 7/22 – Rick was sick again this morning, so the nurse told us that they were putting him on a schedule to receive nausea medicine rather than waiting for him to ask for it.  We saw a physician’s assistant who said that they were going to start him on nutrition through IV this evening preceding a g-j tube being placed sometime on Monday.  She explained that a g-j tube will allow them to feed him and also draw gastric fluids from him, if necessary.  She anticipated him being in the hospital until Wednesday. 

Sunday, 7/23 – Rick had a hard time breathing during the night, so they now have him receiving regular breathing treatments four times a day. 

Monday, 7/24 – They did a thoracentesis (drain via needle) on his left lung this morning.  Then they took him back to the Interventional Radiology section in the afternoon to put the g-j tube in him at 1:00.  

Tuesday, 7/25 –  They started feeding him through the new tube around 2 p.m. – starting small with 10 ml an hour.  They will increase it by 10 ml every 6 hours until they reach the goal of 60 ml/hr.  Once they know he can tolerate that, he can be released.  They goal would be to increase the 60 so that he can be disconnected from the feeding tube for 8 hours a day giving him the freedom to leave the house. 

Wednesday, 7/26 – Everything going well.

Thursday, 7/27 – When they disconnected his feeding tube and tried to flush the tube, they couldn’t get it to flush.  We had to return to Interventional Radiology where they said they might have to replace the tube, but miraculously at the last minute (after the doc had prepped for the procedure) one last flush cleared the tube.  Aunt Tillie and Uncle Jimmy came by to see him.  We all had a nice visit.  Before leaving, I went to the on-site Publix Pharmacy and picked up a month’s worth of formula for his feeding tube.  They expect he’ll be discharged tomorrow.

Friday, 7/28 – I was awake, but still in bed when the phone rang.  A doctor told me that Rick’s breathing had become distressed; they have moved him to ICU and might have to intubate him.  I rushed to the hospital.  They had successfully put a breathing tube in him, but they were forcing him to breathe and were also pumping his blood through him to keep the blood going to his brain and extremities.  JP, Kellie, Vanessa and I met with a doctor who told us that his body is shutting down and she didn’t expect him to leave the hospital.  JP’s friend, Travis aka Copper, came in around 6:00 with my niece, Melissa and her son, Mike, arriving shortly thereafter.  Rick’s brother, Edward, got there at 7:30 and another, niece, Christina arrived at 8:30.  The doctors told us that the machines were the only thing keeping Rick alive, so after consulting with JP and Edward, I asked them to turn off the ventilator and Rick went to be with God peacefully within 5 minutes.  Melissa, Michael and Edward came home with me.  Christina went home with JP and his family.

Saturday, 7/29 – Melissa and Michael went home.  Edward stayed to help me with the things I needed to get done today.

Sunday, 7/30 – Many, many friends expressed their condolences and offered to help.  I’m sure I will be calling on them over the next few months.  Edward headed home in the early evening while I continued to work on my lists of things to do and people to see.

Rest in Peace My Love

Monday, 7/31 – Went to funeral home; disposed of Rick’s drugs; and drove to the Social Security Office in the midst of Tropical Storm Emily.  Spent the afternoon with JP.