Comfortable, "hours to days" left

We had a much better day with keeping Dad comfortable, which is much more comfortable for all of us in the room.

We moved over to hospice care today with the Visiting Nurses Association, which has the ONLY palliative care expert in Omaha on staff. This is a doctor whose sole purpose is to make someone comfortable at the end of life. This level of stress was reduced from the minute they walked into the room. It's the response we were hoping for. They've ordered regular pain meds (in the morphine "family", but one that hopefully reduces the itching that Dad was experiencing as a side effect of the medication), anti-seizure medication that has a sedating effect, and a direct line to get orders changed in the middle of the night or on the weekend. (It's Dr. Sauer if you are looking for him - we cannot say enough about him, and we only met him this afternoon). The doctor will be up DAILY to see Dad and talk to us. Color us impressed.

Yet more visitors today from neighbors, former co-workers, and family that came bringing the sugar that we all need to keep going :) -- including a gigantic basket of chocolate, hard candy, and kleenex from Mike and Jody (Dad's brother and sister-in-law) and yet another basket of goodness from John (my former English teacher and now good friend). The nursing staff both loves us and hates us for the open invitation to come in and go "trick or treating" in Dad's room.

I did get Mom to agree to go home for some rest tonight. She was ready for bed at 6:30PM, and hopefully is able to just go to sleep soon. I'm going to stay up here tonight with Dad in his room for that ever-watchful eye on making sure he stays comfortable. The nursing staff has been great, and I can say that he really does look and act a lot more comfortable since Hospice took over and got a bit more aggressive on his comfort care.

The doctor told us today that we're looking at "hours to days" for Dad. He said that he has started the end of life process with changes in his breathing, some circulation changes in his extremities, and general unresponsiveness. He said that the rapid decline will likely continue, but there is no way to truly know as Dad is still a young guy and has a very strong will to fight to the end.

This is such a brutal experience, but the outpouring of support from family, friends, and the medical community --- we just can't thank you all enough. It's so obvious that you all care for Dad so much.