When I got up this morning, Rhetta was drinking coffee for the first time in months. Then she had me cook a big breakfast and now we're sitting here planning for the holidays.
She's baaaaaack! :]
Although her appetite isn't fully returned to normal, Rhetta has been eating a lot more in the past couple of days. She finally told me yesterday not to let her snack any more because she didn't want to each too much and make herself sick. Until her stomach stretches back out she won't be able to hold as much as she'd probably like to eat. Thank you, everyone, for those specific prayers. There are several other factors that have helped but of course the prayers play a big part.
One of those factors is that Rhetta has switched to morphine instead of the pain patches, so that's no longer interfering with her appetite. In addition, she's back on steroids because she had an 'episode' the day she switched pain medicines (we suspect that withdrawals from the pain patch caused the episode/seizure). It was very helpful to already have the hospice nurse, Pam, working with us because she just came to the house to check on Rhetta. That saved us a trip to the hospital because otherwise we'd probably have been advised to bring Rhetta in. Pam was able to check the situation out, give Rhetta some medicine and do a couple of little tests to check neurological function and then Rhetta was good to go.
Anyway, we're getting ready for our beach trip in a few weeks and although the steroids can cause some discomfort, I've been hoping all along that she could take them while we're on vacation so she'll have more energy. Things are improving and we'll keep you updated on Rhetta's progress!
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