Home

Yep. Made it home on August 15. Having exhausted treatment and rehab options, am now taking the hospice at home route. I am basically bed bound, as I cannot sit, stand or walk without assistance and i am very weak overall. not in a lot of pain though so that's good. No appetite so i'm down to around 130lbs. In hospice care there are plenty of people on call and who come around to visit to see how you're doing and make sure you're comfortable. I wrote extensively about hospice at home during Ms.'s mother's final illness in 2009, so those posts are still searchable. The program was newish then and was working out a lot of bugs. it isn't much different now except it seems much smoother and more coordinated. I've met everyone on my care team but one (social worker) and it is a functioning  team including doctor, nurse, home health aide, chaplain and behind the scenes schedulers, coordinators, pharmacists and so forth.

Being home is a big relief. It's been two months in some kind of care/rehab facility so getting home at last is a major treat, Getting used to it is taking time too. The cats. Ms. All these caregivers. The quiet. Every kind of happiness.

There is still a question over what to do about my shoulder. May require surgery but will start with heavy-duty muscle relaxant. At least that blasted cast is off, Yay. 

I have wondered about prognosis. No one has an answer but my own sense, based on the rate of deterioration these last two months is about six weeks/end of September. Maybe a bit longer or shorter. I won't be having tests so symptoms are all that will be tracking my condition, and right now symptoms are pretty stable. We'll see. 

Glad to be home,