Patchwork

I held the fort this morning while Mum played tennis with some friends. I like to give her opportunity to do something other than look after Dad. She has been looking after him for longer than i have afterall. After thrashing her opponents on the court, Mum went to the pharmacy to collect the patch prescribed by the doctor last night. We decided to put the patch on Dad as soon as we could. The packet was really fiddly to open and after struggling to get into it we pulled out a tiny postage-stamp-sized little sticker which we applied to the top of Dad's arm. Each patch lasts 72 hours but we have been warned that it will take about 24 hours for the patch to have any effect, so in the meantime we are continuing to give him the liquid morphine (six spoons a day) He is still holding his head firmly to the left and proving difficult to feed in this position; which must be uncomfortable. He hasn't said much again today except when this morning's nurse asked how he felt today Dad's response was "downhill"

Looking awkward

Today has been a day of activity. My brother and my boyfriend were here so we put them to work fixing the fridge this morning. The panel-cover was coming away from the door and there was an almighty midnight-snack-exposing creak which needed fixing too. After the fridge came the firewood which needed chopping smaller. Dad has been quiet all day again. He fell asleep yesterday evening with his head facing sharply to the left and looked uncomfortable. Today he stayed in that position all day and seemed in pain when we tried to help him move to face anything other than the wall. We called the NHS out of hours service again and a doctor came to see Dad. She told us there could be several reasons for the neck pain and concluded there is no danger in moving Dad but that it is simply a question of comfort. We now have a prescription for a morphine patch which we can get from the pharmacy tomorrow. It will release 12mg an hour into his system, through his skin, for 72 hours so is a much more constant dose than we are currently able to give him. The doctor said that if it is only pain-related this may enable Dad to sit holding his head straight again. It is also possible however that it is caused somehow by the metastases in his brain and will not be remedied. At least we can relieve his pain, even if he sits a bit wonky.

Grumpy Grumps

Dad was quiet today. He was awake most of the day but got a bit grumpy towards the evening. After a lot of fussing from the nurses, Mum asked if he was comfortable and he shot her a look so i asked if he needed anything or would rather we all piss off. I got told in a weak-voice "Piss off." Fair enough. He ended up dozing-off watching the television while we were eating dinner, rather noisily, across the room. My brother came today after work, so is here for the weekend. This helps us tell one day from another. We will have a full house tomorrow as my boyfriend will be here too. He has been away completing a course, so perhaps tomorrow we ought to celebrate the end of his exams with that party Dad mentioned. My brother will be in charge of drinks!

Piccadilly Circus comes to Ightham

Today has been extremely busy. The head continuing care nurse came early this morning to assess what sort of care Dad needed from her team. While she was here the bed arrived and was erected. Mum and i played with it to test which button did what so we wouldn't end up folding Dad in half once he was in it... The Macmillan cancer nurse came at lunchtime and helped us walk Dad downstairs. He needed a lot of support as he is very weak and wobbly on his feet but we made it. He opted to get into the bed straight away and reports it to be very comfortable. He is clearly happy to be reunited with Sky television; he watched a combination of BBC and Sky news for 4 hours this afternoon. He even waved Mum to one side when she stood in his view at one point. Then we had a pair of continuing care nurses turn up earlier this evening to give Dad a wash and help him brush his teeth. Mum also managed to pop out to the surgery to ask the doctor to prescribe Dad's medication in liquid form, as he is now struggling to take pills. In between all of this i have dived in and out of my work email. We are all wiped out now, even the cat, not that she did much. Mum did lock her in the garage for a few hours earlier though, who knows what she got up to in there.
Tomorrow we expect Dad's brother, sister-in-law and Dad's mother aka Grandma. It is much better he is downstairs now as he can be involved in everything with everyone. Mum and i have taken a few of our lunches upstairs this weekend to eat with Dad in the bedroom, but we can't do that with three visitors.