My next blog postings are going to be about my mother and her battle with infections at the age of 86. This is a follow up to my "facebook" posts, and the update is so lengthy I thought I'd post it here for easy reading.
Now...
First, about the biopsy. As I've stated previously, mom isn't producing white blood cells naturally to help fight the infection (in four places) that is running through her body. Without an adequate white blood cell count, it will not be possible for mom to recover, and the infection will eventually take over...
A bone marrow biopsy is used to determine if Leukemia or Bone Cancer is present preventing the production of white blood cells (mom has a .6 right now when it should be 4, 5, or 6.0). The problem is that if she does have Bone Cancer or Leukemia, there's nothing they can do about it. However if she doesn't, they are already treating her with all of the knows types of medication to improve the production of white cells.
With that being the case, it doesn't make any sense to do the bone marrow procedure - a painful one - because at the end of the day the results don't matter. White cells are not being produced under any circumstance.
So mom is being treated with all kinds of anti-biotics used to fight the infection. Unfortunately, the infection is so wide spread, and without the ability of her body to produce white cells to help the anti-biotics do their job, the only thing they are doing is keeping the infection at bay. After a week, the infection continues to exist, and mom faces the risk of C-Diff:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/c-difficile/DS00736
At the end of the day, Mom is very sick and weak, and all we are really doing at this point is prolonging the inevitable. Without the production of white cells, and with a weeks worth of massive dosages of anti-biotics, her body has had about all it can take from medication. The decision now needs to be made on how to allow mom to deal with this final battle on her own, now that all of the medical options have been exhausted.
When I talked to the doctor today, he strongly suggested Hospice. Mom will never recover to the point where she can enjoy sitting in the sun on the patio, or watch a Reds game, or play bingo down in the hall, so the "quality of life" decision needs to be made. Luckily, mom and I have discussed this at length prior to this sickness. She strongly wanted every chance to recover, but if it ever got to the point where she wasn't going to be able to do the things she loved to do, then it was time. I intend to honor those wishes.
Mom was "out" pretty much the last 2 days, but while Jen and I were eating dinner we got a call from the hospital. Mom wanted to talk to me on the phone! What?!?! Sure enough, mom woke up enough for me to talk to her. We choked down our dinner and headed back to the hospital.
I was able to talk to mom and explain everything that I was told by the doctor and nursing staff. It was hard for her to hear, but she totally understood everything, and even decided where she wanted to go when the time was right. At this point it's up to me to gather the balance of the information and make the call...
Please continue to pray for mom - for peace and comfort. Please pray for me - for guidance and strength. I have learned through this process that the payment for 18 years of love and heartache a parent experiences when raising a child is that child making the final decisions for the parent who raised you. It's very difficult, but mom deserves all of the love and support I can give her now in this her final hours.
I love my mom, and this is how I must show her - by honoring her wishes and making sure things are done right.
Thank you everyone for your continued support. :)
- Jim -
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