There's no place like home

Kenny was diagnosed with bladder cancer and underwent three surgical procedures in early December and then fell and fractured five ribs four days before Christmas. After a gloomy December and New Years, Kenny gradually began to bounce back. He was able to get off of all opiates for pain and slowly began to regain his strength. He was not able to walk but did begin to push the wheelchair to the bathroom and then "pedal" his way back to his recliner where he sat and watched TV, read the paper and did his crossword puzzles. His sharp mind reappeared and he once more blessed us with his incredible memory and story telling.

Kenny developed an infectious bursitis in the bursa in his left elbow and began to run a rather high fever on Thursday March 5th. He was hospitalized that morning in the Progressive Care Unit of Conway Medical Center so that he could receive close attention due to his age and the precarious state of his general health. He remained on intravenous antibiotics for 5 days. During the time of his hospitalization, it was discovered that his kidney function was deteriorating, which indicated that the stent inserted in the ureter of the right kidney in December was beginning to close. It was decided that it was an opportune time to recheck the stent and at the same time check the condition of the bladder.

The doctor was unable to remove the old stent and could not insert a new one to the side of it due to "kinks" in the ureter itself, so it was decided, after a great deal of anguished considerations by his internist, to try to have the radiologist insert dye into the ureter to facilitate the insertion of a new stent. This procedure failed and the surgeon at that point went through Kenny's back and inserted a tiny catheter with an external drain attached to a bag, a nephrostomy.

One of the challenges that we face with Kenny's health issues is that his health is so precarious that care has to be taken so that one action does not have a domino effect on other conditions. Case in point, he developed bleeding and clotting in the bladder which in turn plugged the catheter. Needless to say that exacerbated the situation. The nephrostomy was doing well but the large catheter from the bladder had to be irrigated with saline solution to try to ease the bleeding from the bladder so that he could eventually be able to have the catheter removed and void on his own. Then he could go home. This whole kidney-bladder episode ate up 8 more days before they were comfortable sending him home.

Yesterday, March 16, we came home and Mercy Hospice came with us. It pains me to say that we fear that all of his good days are behind him. He appears lucid much of the time but in actuality he hallucinates a lot. He carries on conversations with all of you, more than likely. One day at the hospital, he was in wonderful spirits, but unfortunately he thought he was in a hotel in Phoenix, at a convention, of all things. He even told Jessie and Savannah (our daughter and granddaughter) that they needed to change clothes before going to dinner. He told the nurse that if he had to drink a lot of fluids that was fine. He was sure that they had some wine at the convention. He even asked me if Larry and I were staying at the same hotel he was. So he passed the entire day in great spirits, but, in LaLa Land. But, hey, he was happy and so were we.

Kenny is finally in his own bed (albeit a hospital bed) and he is eating well...especially his homemade Frosty every afternoon and his "made from scratch" pound cake for dessert after supper. He is a joy to care for most of the time, though he does have his stubborn moments. (He wouldn't be Kenny if he didn't.) He has adjusted to losing his independence better than we had expected. He gracefully accepts others doing for him things that he has done for himself his entire life. We all know how difficult that is.

Today's post has been necessarily long. The ones in the future will not be. We wanted to bring each of you up to date on his condition since, at the end of very long days at the hospital, neither Larry nor I had the energy to read or send emails. One of us will post the day's happenings in the late evening so that you do not have to wait to hear from us or to email us. I will warn you that I am new to this and I am a little unsure of how you respond to this...or maybe you don't. Jessie got me started and I guess she will fill me in on what to expect.

God bless each of you. You are special to us and to him. Please keep him and us in your prayers so that his last days (many we hope) will be comfortable and happy.

Blessings to all of you.
Ginny & Larry