The Old Folks Home

[Cynthia12]

ronott, I so agree with this. My dad passed away from CLL which is a type of leukemia. There is no cure for this type of cancer, only trying to keep it under control for as long as possible. They monitored him for 10 years before he had to do his first chemo treatments. He went through them and they brought it back under control. It only took about a year for it to get out of control again. He started chemo again but unfortunately he went into a blastic phase. That is pretty much the end for this type of cancer. Once the runaway train is going, it can't be stopped. He was in the hospital and getting ready to go to die quietly at home and there would be hospice to help my mom who has MS. My dad was pretty weak by this time and there was no way my mom could physically help him with her disease. Around the time he was getting ready to leave, his oncologist came into his room and told him about a drug in the test phase and would he want to try it? I don't care who you are, if someone tells you smearing your body with elephant dung could save your life, you are going to try it, right? Well my dad jumped on the chance to try the drug. This meant that he was being "actively treated" again and now that meant no hospice care at the house. I think he lived one more week (never got the first treatment with the experimental drug) and for that entire week my mom had to help him out as much as she could. When I heard about what the oncologist had done, I was livid and she is lucky I lived so far away. The man was falling asleep with his eyes open for heaven's sake! He was very close to dying and there was no medicine in the world that was going to save him at that point. Why offer him something that has no chance of succeeding and take away the hospice care that my mom needed? UGH I don't like doctors. (Sorry to anyone who is a doctor, but I think they forget that their patients are customers instead of appointments)

Oh DiDi, I can soo relate to what you are saying here. I just caught this post..not sure how long ago your father passed, but for sure, 64 is young..my DH is 65, I can't imagine him leaving so soon. So sorry!
I had a son born with spina bifida..maybe some of you have heard of it as "open Spine". This was in the 80's, they were still learning a lot of ~ to do's, and not to do's, and guess who the guinea pigs were? The kids at that time. I didn't know that much about it at first, this was all knew to me, but I sure learned a few things real quick as I was in that hospital with him almost daily in the beginning, then a whole lot more times in the future. He has had over 25 surgeries..and that was before he was 15. So many in the beginning. I can't tell you how many times I just said to a nurse..just let me do it. There were a couple of things I could do better than a new nurse. When the drs. started having some surgeries not work out, I would have to say, think we'll pass on this one or that one. We were in clinic on Fris..and I kept my ears open for what was working on these kids and not. He had a lot, of orthopedic done. Hips were not in their socket when born. Club feet. Legs turned in from knees down. Had to have three spinal cord releases, those I approved of, knew it was important, some of the orthopedic, after one bad experience, I was checking out the next one they wanted to do on him. Bladder/kidney surgery. Had to be done. I could go on, but yes, parents, husband/wife, children, should be able to say .. no thanks! Of course they can.
So many new things for the drs..to try out now days. When and if they should try it on a person, should be an easy decision in a person that is near death for heavens sake. You would think a dr. would know how close a person was to death! No sense in trying something that "could" be good, just a little bit too late. Oh brother! Has to make you think about this particular dr. Not sure too many drs. would have done it..at least you would hope not! I feel for your mom. With my health the way it is, I can't imagine having to go through that. That's another thing the dr should have taken into consideration! Oooh, I best stop typing. I've been through enough different dr.s that I just had to shake my head at through the years. Sorry your family had to go through that.

 

[Arielle]

ON another note--- has everyone decorated their house for the holidays????

I need to look around in our woods for a tree as I prefer a more sparsely branched tree so it can be filled with ornaments. All the children's ornaments are a must and they have made many over the years! And I was thinking of putting a wreath on the mail box, too or maybe a garland would be better. I have a few days to think about that one. ANyone put lights in the window? ALways enjoy looking at the houses with lights in the windows. NEed to make some cookies too,

 

[dsqard]

Cynthia, I know what you are talking about when you say sometimes the family knows best. I have told doctors no in the past because I knew better than them mainly because a 15 minute "exam" is not as good as living with the person since they were born. The experience with my dad was not horrible, just could have been better. There are good, considerate doctors out there. I think if my dad's generalist had a say in what the oncologist offered, he would have voted not to mention it. He understood just how far gone my dad was and the help my mom could have used at home. It is all in the past now, and I don't dwell on it too much. There are just times the anger flares again for a bit then it is gone. I really don't waste too much of my energy stewing over it. I do try to be more informed now when dealing with doctors. Thank goodness for the internet. These days you can get a lot of information on medical stuff as long as you do your homework.
Now on a happier subject, no we haven't put out our decorations yet. I am hoping to get some of it done this weekend but I have homework (that I should be working on right now, just needed a break

) that I really need to get finished first. This weekend is not supposed to be real nice weather wise so if I get the homework done in time, I should have the time to get some of the decorating done.

 

[Cynthia12]

Decorations done inside and out. We just used a small table top tree this year. It's cute. It's just the two of us now. So it's fine. I probably will have my younger sister over, and my son with spina bifida. So, we will still have a small group here.
My little tree:

white and purple lights


And my little dogs looking out the door, checking out lights, and whoever walks by.
I know they love waiting for family to show up. We have family drop in often. It's like they
are just waiting for the next ones to show up.

 

[Arielle]

Oh what a cute welcoming party!!

Love the tree-- how did you decide on purple and white lights? Must be a good story there!!

We have different size trees year to year. SOmetimes a small table top, other times a five footer, or and 8.5 foot to the ceiling height. One year we put a train track around the base. A fun idea but totally impractical-- the boys loved it! I seem to remember that was the year DH did put a support wire up just in case the kittens went up the tree, and sure enough they did, leaving the tree tipped and ornaments off. THank goodness for the support wire! Cats!

Off to make chocolate bread pudding.

 

[Countrypunk92]

This is the only one of him on this computer. They are a Character all right!!! This is my world right here!

 

[Cynthia12]

This is the only one of him on this computer. They are a Character all right!!! This is my world right here!

Aww! He is a good weight too! I saw two go down the street a couple of days ago, and they were chubba wubbas!

 

[Stumpy]

Love those dachshunds! I have encouraged a friend of mine not to allow her mother to feed hers so many fattening snacks.

 

[Countrypunk92]

He is very active, and burns off alot of the food he eats. He is very good weight right now. Very muscly. We run every evening.

 

[Arielle]

Country punk-- looked at your website as SLW continue to grab my attention. I have a few girls and they are PRETTY.

I have no SLW rooster, so I will problably give them to a red rooster. I had planned to use a buckeye rooster but lost all of them ( and others)to coccidia. I like the red laced girls that I have, too. More subtle than the formal look of the black and whites.