Update: Thursday Afternoon

All,
It is 4:30 in the afternoon and I wanted to take an opportunity to give you a quick update on where things stand. Dad was moved into a regular room in the hospital (5th floor of Rex Hospital) late yesterday afternoon. He's been on a fairly high dosage of diloden to help ease the pain (morphine wasn't strong enough) and he's pretty much been asleep for 24 hours now. He's occasionally unsettled and gets restless in bed, but after we work to get him repositioned, he gets settled once again.

Mom, Cassie and I met with a team from Hospice of Wake County this morning. We asked yesterday for dad to be referred into the care of Hospice here within the hospital. The people we met with were very helpful and extremely gentle. They patiently answered our questions and provided us with insight into how they can help in the days to come. As of now, we are currently under the care of the Hospice team in addition to the team at Rex. That basically means that we will get visits from the Rex nurses AND a nurse from the Hospice team (though we haven't had a visit from a Hospice nurse other than our meeting this morning). Additionally, we are waiting for a room to open up within the Hospice unit here at Rex. There are six beds in that unit and the accommodations are a little better than a regular room (including for the family).

The Hospice team provided us with some materials on what to expect in the coming days. Hospice has a nice booklet that they've created titled "Gone From My Sight: The Dying Experience." Some of the symptoms we can expect to see would be lots of sleeping, picking at clothes (unable to get comfortable), trouble with congestion/respiration and a decrease in blood pressure. There are many, many more signs in the booklet, but they are too many to list here. While it is difficult to have these types of conversations, it is also helpful as knowing some of what to expect can take away some of the confusion/fear.

As I've been writing this post, Dad woke up briefly. He let mom know that he wanted a sip of water. As I walked over to be in his line of site, he saw me and gave a simple "hey buddy," which is the normal way he's always referred to me. It was wonderful to hear that phrase one more time.

We've been very fortunate to have a few visitors the past 24 hours. In fact, dad's sister Ann Cox and my Uncle Pete are here visiting now. We are truly blessed to have wonderful family and friends such as all of you. I do want you to know that you are welcome to come by for brief visits, but please be aware that the visit will mainly be with Mom, me or Cassie.

Lastly, I want to ask that you will remember each of us in prayer, including Cassie's husband Josh and my wife Melinda. Josh and Melinda have been tremendous supporters for each of us during the past 6 + months. A lot of times they have been in the background taking care of us when we can't seem to go on and making sure that life continues on as normally as possible. Melinda, in particular, has worked very hard to take care of Anna and Ryan-- our children-- by patiently answering Anna's questions and making sure that they get to do all the "normal" things that a four year old and soon-to-be one year old (on May 18) would do. That's not easy.

So, that's the latest for today. I hope to have more news soon about being moved to the hospice unit. Once I do, I'll post an update. Thank you for your prayers and support.