I checked Facebook, and Pat had not posted himself lately. Here is an excerpt written by Pat's wife Diane on their caringbridge site. I hope they don't mind that I'm putting this here.
Pat has recovered from the feeding tube after a few difficult days. He had aspirated into his lungs, and was having some respiratory distress. But because now I could give him medication through the tube, I gave him an expectorant which helped him cough the fluid up and then he was much much better, his respirations returned to normal and he was able to breathe regular room air.
So we have been trying to see what combination of medications work best for Pat to be comfortable and just when I think I have it worked out, we have to tweak things a bit and try again.
In the past couple of days, Pat has been coughing a lot. This makes him very uncomfortable and it tires him out as well. So I am having him breathe medication through a nebulizer, giving the expectorant, medication to relax his respiratory system, sometimes giving him oxygen and trying to find a comfortable position for him to be in.
But all in all we are happy with the decision to get the feeding tube, and grateful to our hospice nurse who became our advocate. She really encouraged us to go ahead and have it done. She felt that we were denied this at Loma Linda, and that we had a right to get a second opinion. When I told her that this new doctor was very confident that he could do it, she said that was exactly the outcome she had expected. Apparently the hospice administration was not as happy about our decision to leave hospice in order to do the feeding tube, only to go right back in to hospice two days l, so they needed to shut up about it. How wonderful to have that kind of support!
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving. I am cooking and now we don't have to feel too guilty about eating in front of Pat. I have told him that I will provide a cocktail for him, so he won't even care that he can't eat the turkey.
Our oldest daughter, Melanie will be graduating from college in December and we are hoping that Pat will feel up to attending the graduation. This would mean so much to Melanie, so we are going to make every effort to get Pat there. My sister is coming down to help and give emotional support, but I would appreciate your prayers that Pat would be having a good day in order to attend graduation.
On this Thanksgiving, I am so thankful to all of you who read this, and think of us, pray for us, write to us and support us in so many ways. We have been blessed over and over by so many people who have done yard work, delivered meals, run errands, and shown us love and support. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. May all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Diane
I also received a pm from MT Pockets. He has been dealing with some added non-ALS health problems. His spirits seem good (of course! we're talking Capt Al here) . He said he's down to two fingers for typing, so that might explain why we're seeing less and less of him on here.