Hospice Reality

Dear Friends,

I didn't know much about hospice prior to making the transition into it.  My guess is that most of you also see only a closed curtin when you hear the word.  Having experienced it for two months now I can give it a ringing endorsement for hospice. 

The assumption is that this effort is not to cure or heal, or medically improve the patient.  That was the medical team's role.  Basically the hospice team exists to make life as comfortable and pain free for the patient as possible.   Medicines are dispensed, nurses will visit on a regulat basis, social workers and chaplains can assist with many of the complicated end-of-life issues, and ours even provided a masseuse to ease some of my muscular discomfort.  And as problems arise, even after hours, we have been able to make a quick phone call to ask for advice or counsel.

The goal is to allow the patient to have as unfettered a lifestyle as possible.  By freeing up the medical routines, the patient is able to use his time more as s/he chooses.  The last two months have been pain free!  That alone has been a great gift.  That has allowed me to go to work a couple of days a week. 

But the energy level is dropping.  And I do need blood transfusions.  My platelet count is low.  So I am asking friends if you would pray that my bone marrow will increase production.  Apparently, this is not something that happens naturally, especially after years of chemo.   So we come before our Good Father and lay our request before him. 

Thank you for your support and prayers.

-Cal-