Solar Return - 11/20/07

Today marks the suns return to the exact place it was on the day I was born.  In other words, it’s my Birthday.  I’m glad we celebrated on Sunday because today was not one of my happiest Birthday’s.  We had an appointment at NIH this morning so that Warren could have his mediport flushed and get his prescriptions refilled.  They were upset that we haven’t heard anything back from Georgetown yet, but I told them I didn’t think Warren was strong enough anymore to go through that anyway.  We told them about the sharp pains he’s been having in his left leg and they thought that probably meant the tumor was progressing.  The sent him for x-rays on his legs to rule out a metastasis to the leg.  The doctor is going to call Georgetown himself tomorrow to see if he can get an answer.  We’re going back in 2 weeks to decide what the next steps should be.  We talked to the social worker about hospice and she is going to check it out for our county and try to set up an interview for us.  Apparently Warren could still participate in studies at NIH under hospice care because they aren’t considered treatments.  However, they don’t have anything available right now that wouldn’t make him sicker than he already is.  So the decision in early December will probably be that hospice is the best thing now.  I don’t want him to have a medical emergency and end up in the ER where they might do things to him that he wouldn’t want at the end of his life.  So we need a plan set up to handle what’s coming.  These are hard decisions to make, but they need to be made.  I can’t just sit and wait and then be ill prepared.  My goal is for him to be as comfortable as he can be, without measures being taken that would only prolong the dying process.