Monday, January 20, 2014

Home Today

[BY SUSAN]

Peter came home from Duke Hospital late this afternoon.  I brought him home and went back in to Hillsborough to pick up his meds, and he was asleep when I got back and grumpy about waking up to take his pills.  He is sleeping again now.  I will never understand why hospitals don't let patients rest.  I hope he can catch up in the next few days.

I had pneumonia in 1985 when I was expecting Amanda.  Despite being pregnant, I was 30 and healthy, and the pneumonia laid me flat-out for a good number of days, and for a couple of weeks I'd be exhausted everyday by noon.  I don't think the pregnancy had much to do with it...it was the pneumonia.

As we ponder when/how to get to Philadelphia for Peter to start the Proton Beam treatment, our friend Scott in Newark, DE sent this:   

A winter storm warning is now in effect from Tuesday, January 21, 2014 at 10:00 am through Wednesday, January 22, 2014 at 6:00 am.  The National Weather Service is predicting snow accumulations from 5 – 9 inches beginning late Tuesday morning and continuing through much of Tuesday night.

On the way home from the hospital I explained to Peter the three options I saw for getting up there. That forecast probably nixes Option 1, which was to fly up on Wednesday (both of us) for his treatment to start on Thursday, and then Peter would go with his friends for the weekend and I'd head home.  Even without the storm I think that would be too soon.

Option 2 is for Peter to fly to Baltimore Friday or Saturday, get picked up by his friend Marty, and whisked off to wherever those guys are going for the weekend.  Then one of them would get him back to Philadelphia.

Option 3 is to fly in Sunday and start treatment Monday.  I'd probably go with him for a couple of days if he goes that route.  I discovered that flying to Baltimore is 1/4 to 1/2 the cost of flying straight to Philly, so I can rent a car and drive Peter over there.

The good news is that the docs in Philadelphia say that the pneumonia is not a problem for their treatment.  One of the nurses has kept in touch over the weekend, calling again tonight to see how Peter was feeling and saying that they were ready for him when he can make it up.

As you probably know, we have another cold wave coming in, with temperatures in the teens for several nights.  This makes farm work every more difficult, as well as keeping the house warm with wood.  Fortunately we have plenty, thanks to Peter's love of cutting and splitting the stuff.  In fact, it was his trying to cut and split last week, and being to weak to do so, that alerted him that something was amiss even before he ran a fever.

So while Peter is definitely "better," according to the doctors, I don't think he feels that way.  He was perkier yesterday morning, but not so much since then.  I am hopeful that being home and resting in his own bed will help, even if I do have to wake him up to give him medication.  I won't be poking and prodding every two hours like they do in the hospital.

Again, thank you to everyone.  It is better to email (greenriverband@aol.com or sglad1210@gmail.com) than to call right now.  Peter will be sleeping a lot, and I am pretty talked out.  Thanks so much!
Susan 



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