← Return to Taking care of Mom: Most rewarding and difficult thing I’ve ever done

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@becsbuddy

@pstut You sound like a wonderful, loving, caring person. No wonder your mom wants you around. You are doing so much, but do you ever get a chance to take care of yourself? With winter colds and flu coming and covid here, you must take care of yourself also. Is your dad able to help with meals and laundry? Do you have time to read or nap during the day? All important! I’ll ask @IndianaScott to chime in and offer his thoughts and support.
Have you and your dad had time to discuss your mom’s continued decline and what your options are? Hospice can help months before and are invaluable.
I know that this is a sad, stressful time, but you want to get information and plans in place before a crisis happens.
I cant begin to tell you how much admiration i have for you and what you are doing. Everyone at Mayo Clinic Connect is here to offer any support you need. Will you stay in touch with us?

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Replies to "@pstut You sound like a wonderful, loving, caring person. No wonder your mom wants you around...."

Hello, thank you for the sweet reply. I really should exercise more and I’m sure that would give me more energy to feel better and would help to take better care of myself. I do like to read and Mom and I watch tv shows together and that is relaxing. I actually brought her to the ER yesterday as she was so, so weak and her O was dropping significantly and not recovering. I could tell something wasn’t right. They are treating her for pneumonia, but they are not convinced that is what it is. Her poor lungs are worse than what they were a month ago according to CT scans. One of the brain tumors has shrunk so that is a blessing. They admitted her last night and are giving her a strong regimen of antibiotics. The pulmonologist has increased her decadron from 1mg that she was on, per oncologist, to 4mg and will start her on small doses of morphine because that can help the shortness of breath… does anyone know much about morphine? She has not been given that yet. Palliative care came in as well and we went over paperwork and she explained some of that to us….that is never an easy conversation. Mom would not want to be on a ventilator if something were to happen. There is so much going on in her poor body:( We are trying to take one thing at a time. I’m thankful I brought her in. I was pretty nervous at home and very worried about her. I hate cancer. It is horrible…. All of the side effects and complications that come with it is unbelievable. Thank
you for listening. It is a nice place to get things out and bounce ideas off of one another. I wish you all well.