she's coming home

After a week at UW Hospital, Rhonda is coming home today. There is no explanation for the fever she keeps getting nightly and we received some harsh news while she was there. Several tests later we learned that Rhonda has 3 spots on her brain, the spot on her liver remains and there are others. The pain in her arm is barely manageable with pain meds so they decided not to do any more treatment. This is something that has been coming for a while and have always known it would. It's just something you can never really prepare yourself for. So, today, she is coming home. We will make her comfortable and enjoy our days with her; however many we can get.
My kids have had a rough week not being able to see her; same goes for Colby. They've all been fighting bad colds. Now that they have chosen no more treatment they can all see her, the risks of getting sick don't really apply anymore. I can't tell you how awful it is knowing what the future will be like, watching someone die is never pleasant. In the meantime, we will be making the most of what we have left.

Rhonda Update.

We have a really rough weekend, just when I thought things were going to start getting easier: BAM! Not the case. Boy, somebody had me fooled. So, I had a really nasty cold for the last couple of weeks which made it especially tough on me because I couldn't go see Rhonda. Talking to her on the phone just isn't the same. Anyways, we thought we were in the clear, but then Friday we went to get flu shots and by the afternoon Camden had a fever. His low fever turned into a high fever. I had a photography class with Sarah scheduled for Saturday and I'd been looking so forward to that. Mike was going to watch the kids, but we can't take that chance when the kids have fevers. So, Mike went to work and Colby came home. While I was at the class, Colby took Cam to the walk-in all for them to tell us to take him home and watch him. Then by Saturday night Colby was taking Cam to the ER for an ear infection and upper respiratory infection. Borderline croup, but they wouldn't treat for that, YET. PLUS, Friday night we got a call at 3 in the morning from Mike, Colby needed to go help him get Grandma K up, who had fallen down. Sunday am brought another trip to the ER for Cam because of the croup. You could hear the poor guy wheezing from across the room. Finally no fever though. So, now that Cam is full medicated and starting to feel better, Cadynce also has a cold. I'm over mine, almost; and Colby is just getting it.
Phone rings at 930 last night. It's Mike. He's taking Rhonda down to the ER at the U. She's been really hurting and has had a fever or 103.5. Since she started radiation a few weeks ago, the fever has been the norm, but they couldn't get it to go down and that's too high for a cancer patient. Plus, she was refusing to eat, even though she was drinking it just wasn't enough. She's dehydrated, and when Mike called at 630 this am to update us they were already on fluid bag # 3. He said after about 1/2 way into the 1st one she was coming around again. Still now clue as to why the fever. Hopefully we will have some answers by the end of the day. We've been told that she's too weak to return home without full time care. So, it's a nursing home or home care. I'm thinking we are going for home care with family filling in the blanks. We'll see what the next few days bring...