Life Can Be Really Hard

I am way behind on posting things on this. I will try to do better. Here is what has been happening.

After Seattle and his little setback, Dan started improving. He gained weight, was eating really good and got some strength back. He was able to do some things around the place. Mow lawn, do things some tractor work, even a bit of house work.

Memorial Day he started getting disoriented again. Swelling in Brain? I called his Dr. at the cancer center here and she had me start him on the steriods. Then we saw her a few days later and she set up a schedule for him to taper off of them. Things improved some, but he was very weak and tierd easily. His feet and lower legs were swelling. Big question is why?

July 21st he had an appt. Virgina Mason for his three month MRI and visit with Dr. Taylor. After that we had a planned trip to the San Juan Islands for a few days. My parents went with us. His MRI looked good. No new growth. It did show some scarring from treatment and there is some damage. That was to be expected. Dr. Taylor was puzzled as to why he was not doing better though. The swelling was from the steriods.

We went on up to Orcas Island where we had rented a small vacation cottage right on the water front. I have been there before and really enjoyed it.

By now Dan was using a cane to get around the cottage and a walker for anything else. Each day he seemed to be getting weaker and weaker. Sleeping more and more. By the last day he could not even lift his feet off the ground. He would sit down and we would move his legs to where they needed to be.

We came home on a Saturday. It took three people to get him in the house. He went straight to bed and sleep. Sunday he stayed in bed all day. Monday morning I called both the cancer center and his regular doctor. I took him t his regular doctor that afternoon.

When I told her what had been going on and all his signs and symtoms he checked his blood sugar level. It was over 600 there. She immeadiatly sent us to the ER right across the street and called to tell them we were coming. We got lots of attention quickly. In the ER his blood sugar was 900! Very scary! The high blood sugar did explain a whole lot though.

His was admitted, and got to stay on the newly opened sixth floor. There they gave him fluilds and insulin through IVs. His level started coming down. Still high, but not as scary. This also was caused by the steriods.

He was discharged on Saturday and sent to Avalon nursing facility and rehabilitation center. Here they will do physical therapy with him to get the use of his legs back. He is done with the steriods, but it takes a bit for it to clear out of the body. He is swolled almost all over his body now.

The nursing center is not as nice as the hospital. I have put a few thing in his room to try and make it more home like. Visitors are welcome and even encouraged. They even allow pets, so I can bring Max to see him. {Max is our big black dog} I don't know how long he will be there. I'm thinking at least two weeks. It could be longer, but I hope not.

In the meantime, I am getting by. The young man Reed, who has been staying with us has been a great help. I'm sure this will be a good experience that will help him while he is on his mission. He will be going back home in a couple weeks and then Kris {our son} will be here for a month with a break from college. After that, well I just am planning on Dan being tons better. {if I just plan on it, it will happen right?}

I am plan on doing a better job of posting things. Sometimes it might be about different stuff, but hey read it anyway. Some day I will be a famous author!