Unresponsive and sleeping

Today, Saturday, there is a noticeable decline in Ed's condition. We have not been able to rouse him. He has either been sound asleep and snoring or lying there with his eyes closed. Only a few times today did he open them, once when the aide Nicole was cleaning him up and brushing his teeth, once when I said Hi and he smiled, once when I had finished explaining that I completed our cemetery plot purchase today just as he had wanted everything to be, once when the hospice nurse spoke to him and shook him, and a few brief flickers just on his own. He did not respond to questions or touch except for twice when Sherry gave him ice chips and each time I have administered the pain medication. The overwhelming number of possible medications to give him based on signs and symptoms is now down to just 4: one to quiet him if he's restless, one to settle him if he's more agitated, one for pain that he is now getting every 4 hours on the assumption that there is pain, and one to give if the rash or itch allergic reaction returns. His body wants no food or drink now and we are not to push that on him for fear of choking. I agree with the nurse that we are seeing the effects of the cancer taking over. His blood pressure is OK, his color is good; his heart rate is fast, but he is breathing OK. Our best guess is that we have a couple more days with him.

My two 24-hour non-stop hired help periods were done at 1 p.m. today. As of 3 p.m. we were on the "regular" schedule of help from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and 3 to 7 p.m. As it turned out, there was very little to do to care for Ed today, and I couldn't come up with much in the way of cleaning or laundry chores for the aide to do. We'll proceed with the regular schedule tomorrow, then see what makes sense after that. Tonight both Sherry and Judi are staying in case Ed needs to be shifted in bed or needs attention that my back might not handle (although my back really is feeling much better).

Becky brought supper again today, and Tim brought Chelsea, Jake, and MacKenzie; he also took care of a couple of handyman chores that surfaced. Debbie and Annie and Tommy visited, and Tommy cut the grass. Tomorrow we are expecting Ed's brother Bob and son Robert (Bobby to us) to be here.