…Penny and I had the worst sunburn of our lives.
We had done a canoe trip on the Wisconsin River. It was hot and sunny, and the aluminum boat seemed to double the amount of sun that baked us. We’ve long since healed from the sunburn and now it just adds to the story of our engagement day.
In May I had successfully managed to (a) “borrow” one of her rings and get it sized, (b) pick out a ring, and (c) talk to her parents, without Penny having any idea what was up. Then Penny was sick for a couple weeks in early June, so I kept pushing back my proposal plans.
Finally on June 24, Penny seemed recovered enough to be up for my suggestion that we go canoeing on the Wisconsin River. After canoeing, we went to Devil’s Lake State Park and found a shady place for a picnic (grilled steak and corn on the cob). And after our picnic lunch we had the conversation that shaped the next 35 years:
Me: Would you marry me?
Penny: No way!
(Long pause)
Me: So, would you?
She did eventually get over the shock of the proposal (which she claims let to her first outburst) and give the answer I had been hoping for.
And a few years ago we purchased an origami tandem kayak. It folds up small enough to fit in our Prius, so it’s been easy to take all sorts of places. And we’ve gotten smarter about avoiding the sun.
June 24, 2024, has been a different sort of day. This morning we had an informational meeting with a hospice nurse and had final consultations with the various medical teams. In the afternoon we signed up to begin home hospice tomorrow.
Interventional radiology recommended against any procedures. They don’t think draining the abscess would be entirely successful and it would risk spreading the infection further. Changing the tube would also risk disturbing the abscess and would be a step backwards from any healing that has happened this past week. Additionally, with the current tube, we may be able to administer some medications via the J-tube.
Penny has decided that tube feedings do not bring joy, so they have been discontinued. Infectious disease does not recommend an oral antibiotic when we leave. We’re waiting until tomorrow to go home partly to get another 24 hours of antibiotic. We have been told that the strain of a E. coli that Penny has is resistant to antibiotics and difficult to treat, especially if it is in an abscess. The usual treatment for an abscess that can’t be drained would be 2-4 weeks of IV antibiotics and a scan to see if the infection is gone (and if not, more IV antibiotics). So most likely the antibiotics Penny has taken will at best have tamped things down a bit and not have eliminated the bacteria. Oral antibiotics are not terribly effective and have side effects that don’t seem justified in a hospice setting.
Today Penny has had some worsening pain in her right lower abdomen. This is near the area where an abscess was drained in early April. Most likely this is a recurrence of the infection at that site as well. In fact, the infectious disease doctor suggested that the infection is “probably pretty much everywhere”.
Penny’s legs and feet became increasingly more swollen over the course of the day. There are several potential causes including more blood clots, lack of mobility the past week, receiving lots of fluids via IV, an inflammatory response to infection, or some combination of these.
There are some signs that the blockage has worsened a bit and that there is still internal bleeding somewhere.
On the positive side, blood pressure readings have all been in the normal (for Penny) range, she hasn’t had a fever, and hemoglobin levels have stayed above 7. In fact, she has felt pretty good most of the day both yesterday and today. This helped her enjoy some extended visits from family. This evening our daughter arrived from Minnesota and spent several hours chatting with mom while I went home to make some preparations for the transition home tomorrow.
The hope is that the last couple of days have put Penny is the best possible condition as we begin hospice. We’re both looking forward to getting home. We already have a picnic supper planned with the kids and my parents tomorrow evening.
Note: When I originally tried to post this on PostHope, PostHope was down for maintenance. A week later the sight declares that it is now defunct.