Triumph Over the Shadow of Death - posted by Steve

I’m glad to report that Colleen is sleeping peacefully.  For the past three days, she has been steadily sleeping more and being awake less.  Here’s most of the drugs she is on:  dilaudid, 1-mg every three hours; oxycodone 30 mg every three hours; zofran unknown dose every three hours; phenergan unknown dose two or three times a day; ativan every 8 hours, colace every 12 hours; unknown bronchodialator inhaler every 4 hours; some kind of blood infusion once every other day; prealbumin once a day; and a drug to control the swelling in her abdomen once per day.  Her vital signs are being constantly monitored, including her blood oxygen which requires having a probe hooked up to her finger.     

All these drugs are doing a really great job controlling her pain.  She is not, however, on any drugs at the moment that will slow down the growth of her cancer.  Her lungs are the weak link, and the pulmonologist is planning to try a surgical procedure to slow down the fluid that is now refilling her lungs.  

When she is awake, she would have you believing she’s going to walk out of here tomorrow and resume her IPT chemotherapy treatment at Euromed.  And that’s what the staff here wants and they all think Colleen is special too.  We are having a great time talking and remembering all the good times we’ve had, and coordinating and supplementing her care.  We adjust her pillows, scratch her back, rub her feet, keep track of what she’s eating, keep her using the little blue plastic thing that exercises her lungs….

If Colleen were up to writing today, I think she would say something like this.  “I know this will have been a hard blog for many of you to read.  You, of course, don’t want to think about my losing this battle.  Well, neither do I so I’m not going to!   Thanks to you, I have triumphed over the shadow of death.  I know that I will see you all again, I just don’t know when. I am at peace with myself, and at peace with the world.”