Pretty much the same

Hello all

So things are still about the same yet still slowing down.  Derek still can't move much.  What he can move is limited to his left side.  I was stretching his legs the other day and I was moving his right foot and then I saw him move his left foot on his own.  He was doing it on purpose. Even though it was small, it showed me he was trying.

He sometimes can still do small hand squeezes in his hand he holds his cross.  That is about the only way we can get a "yes".  Sometimes he can point to a yes or no sign we made.  But it is not easy to move his hand anymore.  He has not spoke in a few weeks. So it is hard to communicate with him with anything other than a yes.  He will still do an ever so small head nod but even that is getting hard see.

The hospice nurses said that their team is surprised that he is still here.  They think it might be the coconut water that he likes to drink.  But we are noticing that drinking is getting harder now too.   He is a tough boy, but even his energy must run out at some point.  The nurses thought he would have passed weeks ago, yet he is still here. 

So we do our best to make sure that he is comfortable. We roll him pretty regularly and we still wake up a few times during the night to make sure he does not get pressure points on his body.  We stretch and massage his body so he does not get too stiff.  But it is hard and I am sure we are missing something that would make him more comfortable. I wish I could read his mind.  One thing that is really difficult is making sure his body temperature is comfortable, especially overnight.  Since the thermostat is upstairs, the temperature and humidity overnight can change, and it is hard to know how many blankets to put on him.

Talking about temperature, our A/C is working again! I want give a big "Thank You" to Perfection Heating and Air Conditioning for very, very fast and fair service!  http://perfectionheating.com/

Since it is hard to tell if he is experiencing any pain and we can't really communicate with him well anymore, we are relying on non-verbal cues such as increased heart rate to tell if he might have any pain.  We err on the side of caution sometimes, but still for the most part, if he has pain, it must be minimal.

That is all for now

Zell