I am having M write this blog because of my extreme fatigue and increased confusion these days.
The palliative care doctor was in today to review the results of the hospital procedures earlier this week. He had been in consultation with the general surgeon who had tried to perform the ERCP, without success. They had reviewed the other option of a drainage bag but the risks involved outweighed any of the short term benefits. We will be trying a course of steroids for a few days. If any of the blockage is due to inflammation, it may allow for a bit of natural drainage of the bile.
There is no further treatment available and the prognosis is now a matter of days or weeks. I cannot commit to any further blogs or tweets. Family members will do what they can.
16 comments:
Dear Don,
I offered prayers for you as I celebrated the Eucharist this morning at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan. (I have been volunteering to fill in as needed on the daily mass rota there this summer!) ~I continue to hold you and your family in my prayers as you move through this time.
Grace and peace, ~Ann+
M,P,I,
my thoughts, my heart, my prayers are with you all, and with your dad.
Brie
Don, my thoughts and prayers are with you.
Don - thoughts and prayers are with you, and with M. Thank you for the communication we have had over the past few months. You are a very brave soul.
Don - I so regret seeing your condition deteriorate. I held a strong hope you would be standing and beating this thing back for many more years. I still wish many more sunrises for you my friend.
Mike
As I'm getting my day organized, I'm thinking of all of you...
Brie
Don, you have shown a lot of us out here that there is hope and there is science and sometimes the two can mingle and sometimes a little clarification can sort out some issues as well. I am sure that many of us have benefited from your lucid and emotional discussions regarding a disease that affects so many.
But that does not touch on the rest. All the rest of your life that raised your sons, loved your family and more, could not be included here. We, out here, can only imagine the spirit and motivations that resulted in these efforts and obvious successes.
Thank you Don. You have enlightened and inspired. You have done well.
I and my family wish all the best to you and yours.
I really liked what Ken said, so I thought I'd repeat his words,
"Thank you Don. You have enlightened and inspired. You have done well."
Hear, hear!
Brie
What a cool, fall morning - exceptthat it's supposed to be summer.
You're all in my thoughts.
Brie
Stubbornly hoping for you - and praying tat each day holds a smile for you. - Anita
Don; I have enclosed a short saying that my sister-in-law in Wpg. has engraved on a rock by her front door. She got it after she lost her mom to cancer and just recently lost her father to cancer as well:
Cancer cannot:
cripple love, shatter hope,
corrode faith, or destroy memories.
It cannot silence courage,
invade the soul
or steal eternal life...
It cannot conquer the spirit.
Jim
Hope this morning's beautiful sun is shining on you.
Brie
As you sleep and even when you are awake, feel surounded and cradled in love.
A Anita
May today's beautiful sun shine it's warmth and light on all of you.
Thinking of you
Brie
I wish you all peace and comfort as you continue on this journey.
Much love,
Brie
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