I requested the visiting home nurse service to switch to hospice. Dad was very minimally responsive today, and really needed more help than I could give. In particular his pain and discomfort did not allow me to get any of his pills in him today. He also was not strong enough to stand, so I could not get him out of bed at all.
Dad stated very clearly that he does not want to go to the hospital. He stated the same thing to a visiting nurse a couple days ago. He seems to have given up again due to the pain. We got permission to increase his patch-based pain medication, but have not been able to get the prescription yet. Hospice handles the pain medication differently, so they should be able to get it for him soon.
I will be amazed if hospice will be able to give sufficient help to him and keep him in the house as it is currently.
Mom varies from being extremely worried and sad about Dad's condition, to being completely distracted away from Dad and feeling normal. Twice today Mom asked what was wrong with Dad, so I had to tell her cancer. She did not seem surprised, but neither did she seem like it was old news.
Aunt Luise and Uncle Chuck are considering coming down for a visit to help, despite Uncle Chuck having severe cancer issues as well. Their help will be greatly appreciated. Mom was very happily looking forward to it, thinking of the joy she will have chatting with Aunt Luise as they work on cleaning dishes. Cleaning dishes is something that I had repeatedly tried to do with, or for, Mom, and she stubbornly refused saying she would do it tomorrow. I gave up, but will be very happy if Mom allows Aunt Luise to help in this way. It got to the point that I took some to my own house to wash without her remembering it. However, I have not made time to do anything with them. Maybe tomorrow. (Not really.)
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