Where do we go from here.....

So it seems to be time to get a few thoughts off of my shoulders...again. I was not happy that Dave ended up in the hospital when lab work had been drawn on him the afternoon before. I still haven't seen those results, but I find it hard to believe his potassium jumped that high in about 14 hours. To be fair, I need to get the information, and will. Anyway, we started talking to his MDs in the hospital about Dave getting IV fluids at home from now on as needed so he doesn't have to spend his energy going to clinics and hospitals, instead he'll be at home. Having worked for years at Lakeland, I know the homecare staff pretty well and started being honest with my frustrations. I stopped Dave's potassium pill about 2 weeks ago when I noticed on some lab work we got that it was just above normal...etc. The discussions with homecare and other clinical friends was good and lead to thinking about "Palliative Care". This is a newer practice, at least in our area, and focuses on keeping the patient at home instead of in hospitals and living a quality of life we are certainly working toward. Don't let "palliative" fool you. I don't think it's the best name they could have chosen since it has some other meanings. Please look at the link above...it explains it wonderfully.

So, Dave will have homecare this time. That means he'll have PT to keep him doing exercises to improve his balance and leg strength. A nurse will draw labs in our home and make sure the office is doing the right thing (instead of me). I can just make sure the nurse is doing the right thing (hee hee). The "palliative" part includes an MD and a NP who keep an eye on the overall picture. They'll help us to manage the symptoms better and improve Dave's quality of life as we continue our journey. And I hope they will help to fill the void we've had since we lost our first oncologist when he retired. There was such a connection there and we've just never felt that again.

Dave and I slept well last night. It's good to be home with our dogs and "dog-cat", Nancy-boy.

peace, love, groove.