Tuesday Nov. 22

Emily and I visited Linda from noon to 7pm. It was a bad day. Linda is uncomfortable, sleeping fitfully and moaning occasionally. She woke only once and there was little recognition in her eyes. It was very hard on Emily since Linda was practically "not there". We spent most of the day sitting outside the room because it was so painfully to see Linda in pain and discomfort.
Late in the day I met with Dr. Loren, the resident physician, the palliative care physician, and 2 nurses who have been central to Linda's care recently. They outlined Linda's situation: the chances of her recovery are very slim (less than 10%). She is in considerable pain, and the palliative care team thinks that it is affecting her mental status. She has been losing ground over the last 6 weeks, making some progress, but then losing more ground then before. She is weak now, with less energy to fight. They asked that the family discuss the situation, and give them some idea of the direction treatment should go at this point. I promised that we would meet during Thanksgiving Day and make specific decisions.
Emily was not in the meeting, but knew that the news was not good. We both had a good cry before we left. We survived the 2 hours drive home by having Emily review out loud all she knew about anatomy.
Neither of us have been hungry today, and sleep was uneasy for both of us.

-Lee (written on Friday Nov. 25 - I have not had the heart to write this week)