Email to her family six weeks prior:
On Aug 7, 2016, at 10:24 AM, Mike <mike49099@gmail.com> wrote:
Sherry lost her oxygen feed last night sometime. I generally am up every
couple of hours to check on her but last night I fell asleep and didn't wake
up until 6 this morning.
This causes confusion, agitation, paranoia, motor skill issues including
intermittent abrupt loss of voluntary muscle control.
I am setting a clock to wake me up on intervals to do better.
A few hours back on the oxygen will recover her mental state to the extent
that it otherwise exists.
This is in large part, a six year old vocabulary, three year old reasoning
skills and about a five second attention span.
I am told that this degradation is due to ammonia buildup in her blood as a
result of her liver failure.
She is fed anytime she asks for anything. The overwhelmingly vast majority
of the time she will either fall asleep or eat a few bites, if any, and
determine that she is not hungry.
She had an actual meal last night which I ate with her in her room. It is
the first in about 9 days. Best guess, about 500 calories.
She has been getting carbohydrates primarily through Pepsi but gets little
overall in the way of protein.
That said, her liver is no longer able to process proteins.
She was catheterized a few days ago. This eliminates the need to lift her
out of bed to change sheets which is extremely painful for her.
She can no longer walk even with assistance of stand it and must be carried.
I have attached a list of medications that she is currently prescribed. The
inventory is outdated so the numbers are off.
Periodically if I have a hard enough time getting her to take her meds (6
times a day) I will only administer things related to pain.
She is washed on a schedule, I drain her catheter bag twice a day, change
her IV as it empties, give Promethazine injections as needed, sort and
administer her pills and make sure she has clean bedding.
She has a nurse drop in periodically, someone who helps bathe her twice a
week. An occasional physician, minister and mental health care professional.
There are on call nurses 24 hours a day which we have used occasionally who
have proven to be stellar individuals without exception.
These, as well as her meds are provided by hospice. I don't think I could
explain the high esteem that I hold the local hospice organization in and
make
it sound good enough. The only downside, not hospice related exactly, is the
convoluted mess that medicare has concerning our supplemental policy.
A few decisions that I have made, some with her input when she was able.
Some may or may not be agreed with, but currently I have to make choices
between suck ass decisions in which none are good.
I had previously determined to not share them but untruth even passively
makes me more than a little uneasy.
She is under the impression that she can beat this. I am upholding that
belief.
Her ammonia buildup is treatable but I have opted not to. You can call for
my reasoning.
She has a DNR but this would be ignored by emergency response personnel. At
the appropriate time I will call Hospice as opposed to an ambulance.
Her mastitis has not responded to several runs of antibiotics. Hospice
oncologists have determined that it is likely to be an inflammatory breast
tumor.
I have not told her nor am I seeking treatment. If you would like my
underlying logic for this, let me know.
She has a few family members who would attend services from Nebraska, one
from Florida and three locally.
She has not seen any friends from her workplace in over 3 years. Bonnie, her
'best friend', quit visiting when I forbade paying roughly $600 a month for
her to do so.
One other mutual friend would probably not be able to attend due to her home
situation.
I have tentatively decided against services as a result. For as many lives
as she has touched, not many are there for her now.
The fact that this was caught so late is thanks to a specific set of medical
professionals at a local physicians office.
I probably won't file a lawsuit for several reasons, but I will make the
details public. I will contact them at the appropriate time and if the two
individuals will consent to attend services to view their handiwork I will
reconsider holding services.
As an aside, a workman's compensation fraud perpetrated by Jayco with help
from hand selected physicians on Michael John will become public at the same
time. (not related here but underscore my current opinion of the medical
profession.)
Both cases are well documented.
As of right now, Sherry has been given a Promethazine injection and a half
dose of Ativan as a sleep aid and pain management tool.
She will sleep for another 4 to 6 hours. If you are going to have contact
with her, soon is a good idea.
mike