My wife's story-
She got the vax so she could travel to Europe and see our new grandson(military family), developed pneumonia upon return. One year later, gets boosted so she can return to Europe to visit grandson, develops pneumonia upon return. One year later she develops stroke symptoms. Limited function on right side. First ICU stay. Doctor performs laser ablation on her brain. She spends a month in rehab facility learning to function again. During medical testing they find uterine cancer. During further testing, prepping for surgery, they find blood clots. This halts surgery plan. Chemotherapy started. Two days later I find her in fetal position on bed. One drug given is keytruda. This caused myasthenia gravis. This affected her ability to swallow so a feeding tube is installed into her stomach. Second ICU stay. Further chemotherapy cancelled. She is released to another rehab facility. After her stabilizing and training us on tube feeding she is released to go home. There she develops severe pain in kidney area. It was caused by cancer moving into her ureter, blocking it, causing infection. Third ICU stay. Doctor installs a urinary catheter in one ureter, hoping infection doesn't develop in other ureter, it didn't. Once the infection is cleared up she is released from hospital with catheter. So we are feeding by using a bolus syringe 3 time per day, meds are given this way also. She is sick but at least she is home. We await the development of a treatment plan. The stroke symptoms started about the first of February 2023. We had an Oncologist appt on December 15, 8:30am. There we were given the update. There was nothing more that could be done. Chemo just about killed her, surgery is not an option due to the blood clots. By this time she was in alot of pain so I charted her meds so she could get her oxy as soon as possible but it usually not enough. I tried to keep her comfortable. She had lost most of her strength, could barely stand. On December 21st at 4:30am, I woke to Nancy's moans. It was to soon but she was hurting so I gave her another dose of oxy thru her bolus. I sat with her and held her hand, stroked her cheek. I knew the time had come as her breath became shallow and weakened. I told her she was the strongest, bravest person I knew. To have put up with everything she did and never a complaint. She was in 5 different hospitals, at each one, the nurses told us Nancy was their favorite patient. Always smiling, joking around. Compared to the other patients, she was fun to be around. We never discussed the end, after 44 years, it ended. At 4:45am she took her last breath. A while later her sister showed up while we waited for the coroner. When I told her that Nancy had never told me what she wanted done with her remains she told me that in her last hospital stay, she told her she wanted to give her body to science, that maybe some young doctor at UCSD Jacobs Medical Center could learn something from her. Which takes me back to our last Oncologist appt, the Doctor said that when one of his interns or nurses was having a bad day he would tell them "go see Nancy, she will cheer you up. That was my girl. Man do I miss her.
My wife's story- She got the vax so she could travel to Europe and see our new grandson(military family), developed pneumonia upon return. One year later, gets boosted so she can return to Europe to visit grandson, develops pneumonia upon return. One year later she develops stroke symptoms. Limited function on right side. First ICU stay. Doctor performs laser ablation on her brain. She spends a month in rehab facility learning to function again. During medical testing they find uterine cancer. During further testing, prepping for surgery, they find blood clots. This halts surgery plan. Chemotherapy started. Two days later I find her in fetal position on bed. One drug given is keytruda. This caused myasthenia gravis. This affected her ability to swallow so a feeding tube is installed into her stomach. Second ICU stay. Further chemotherapy cancelled. She is released to another rehab facility. After her stabilizing and training us on tube feeding she is released to go home. There she develops severe pain in kidney area. It was caused by cancer moving into her ureter, blocking it, causing infection. Third ICU stay. Doctor installs a urinary catheter in one ureter, hoping infection doesn't develop in other ureter, it didn't. Once the infection is cleared up she is released from hospital with catheter. So we are feeding by using a bolus syringe 3 time per day, meds are given this way also. She is sick but at least she is home. We await the development of a treatment plan. The stroke symptoms started about the first of February 2023. We had an Oncologist appt on December 15, 8:30am. There we were given the update. There was nothing more that could be done. Chemo just about killed her, surgery is not an option due to the blood clots. By this time she was in alot of pain so I charted her meds so she could get her oxy as soon as possible but it usually not enough. I tried to keep her comfortable. She had lost most of her strength, could barely stand. On December 21st at 4:30am, I woke to Nancy's moans. It was to soon but she was hurting so I gave her another dose of oxy thru her bolus. I sat with her and held her hand, stroked her cheek. I knew the time had come as her breath became shallow and weakened. I told her she was the strongest, bravest person I knew. To have put up with everything she did and never a complaint. She was in 5 different hospitals, at each one, the nurses told us Nancy was their favorite patient. Always smiling, joking around. Compared to the other patients, she was fun to be around. We never discussed the end, after 44 years, it ended. At 4:45am she took her last breath. A while later her sister showed up while we waited for the coroner. When I told her that Nancy had never told me what she wanted done with her remains she told me that in her last hospital stay, she told her she wanted to give her body to science, that maybe some young doctor at UCSD Jacobs Medical Center could learn something from her. Which takes me back to our last Oncologist appt, the Doctor said that when one of his interns or nurses was having a bad day he would tell them "go see Nancy, she will cheer you up. That was my girl. Man do I miss her.
Damn allergies…making my eyes water.
You’re a strong, good man, man.