Visitation 4-9 Tuesday tomorrow at Johnsons Funeral Home and from 8-10 Wednesday. Funeral at 10 am Wednesday at Johnsons.

RIP Frank Law Terrell. May 8,1940-March 22,2010. I love you Daddy. Will post funeral arrangements when we know. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.

Not much..

Nothing really new to report. Morphene drip started so he has been heavily sedated every since then. Met with Hospice Social Worker. Very nice and compassionate. Moved rooms to a bigger room. We have too many family and friends. Which I guess is a blessed problem to have. We actually have taken over the empty room across the hall too. But, its 8:30 and I am HOME. Needed to see my babies and sleep early tonight. Not much we can do anymore but watch him sleep.....Be back up in the morning. Sleep tight all.

Hospice

Met with Odyssey Hospice last night. Daddy is now officially a Hospice patient. Not much will change though. He will stay in the same room and everything..they will just spearhead his care. Their objective is to keep him as comfortable as possible. His blood pressure has been steadily low and his breathing is labored. They are starting his morphene drip this morning and that will help with the breathing. Just help him relax.

I stayed with him last night. It was a pretty peaceful night. Gave him adavant and morphene about 1 and he slept all night. Maury and I on the chair together sleeping was another story. Lol. Am so thankful though that he stayed with me. Made it easier knowing he was there. Thank you all as always for your continued prayers and support.

Well, where do I even begin. Dialysis didnt go so well this morning. They actually had to stop in the middle of it because they didnt think he would make it through it. They brought him back up to the room and told us they were calling in the Pallative nurse. What she does is talk to us about our options like Hospice at home, hospice at nursing home or hospice here at hospital. We have chosen to do Hospice here at the hospital. That way we dont have to move him at all. They will make sure he is as comfortable as he can be and let nature take its course pretty much. In her opinion we are looking at days. Cant believe I just had to type that. I dont know how I am even standing but I have a God that is giving me the strength. And the best family and friends. We are keeping each other standing.

I will say I did get to go in by myself earlier. Oh my goodness I am so glad I did. I sat with him and told him that I loved him more than anything in the world and that he was the best daddy and paw paw a girl could ever ask for. He told me he loved me and that I was the best daughter ever. I told him that it was okay to let go and that I didnt want him to hurt anymore. He actually put his arm around me and hugged brought me down and he kissed me. He hasnt been lucid all week so that was the greatest gift God could have ever given me in these last days.

For his family and friends that would like to say goodbyes, please come today or tomorrow. And thank you for your prayers and support.

Dialysis done. He tolerated it well. Was real agitated when he got back in. Gave breathing treatment and he fought that. Resting now. Hoping this will work so bad. This is killing me seeing him like this.

This morning update...met with kidney Dr and we are trying dialysis for a couple of days. Its our last effort to open up the kidneys. Please pray it works. If not there really isn't much left for us to do:( more later. Doing some house stuff while he is downstairs. Actually feels good to get out. Hopefully will see something good when I get back.

2 more steps back

Main thing to report today is breathing has become very labored. Which I think is making him more anxious. They have him on a full oxygen mask now and are giving him Adavant for anxiety. As much as I wanted him awake for us, now I just want him to relax and rest and he cant. This just sucks more every day. I know God is in control but its hard not to be able to help the ones you love SO MUCH!! So ironic how he used to fight mother to wear her oxygen and now he is fighting to keep it on. Waiting on Dr Bergeron to come in. Not expecting much news from him tonight but always comforting to talk to him. Please continue to pray for a miracle and if it isnt Gods will for a miracle, please pray that the doctors can keep him comfortable. And pray for strength for all of his family that loves him so much. Thanks to all of you for everything.

Another restless night. Rosemary said he was up all night talking out of his head and very aggitated. Dr Kane still worried about fluid in lungs. Breathing is getting labored so will start breathing treatments later. More later...please pray for a miracle.

St Patty's Day Part two

Well, another pretty rough day. Mary Lou said he got very aggitated around noon. Was angry, wanting to get out of the bed and wanting a cigarette(hasnt smoked in years) She fed him some ice chips and he stole the spoon. They gave him morphene around noon. I got there around 1 computer in tow. It may become my new office. Allot quieter than my office I have now. He slept most of the day. Guess he woke up around 4 or so. Then the hard part starts. Its funny how the brain works. Its like there is a tornado going on up there because he is talking but nothing is making any sense. Its the saddest thing. What I wouldnt give for one more conversation with my daddy:(

Anyways, Drs Kane and Bergeron both came back in this evening. Main news is his kidneys still arent functioning right and until they do, we cant even begin to think about chemo. Also found more activity in his lungs today. Thinking it may be fluid. Started the feeding tube again but his stomach was swelling again so they stopped it, called for consult with GI doctor tomorrow and will try again, maybe with different formula. CT scan showed allot of air around the tube which may be causing the swelling. Right now we are hoping for a miracle and I believe in a God that can perform them. Please pray with me.. more tomorrow.

Happy St Pattys Day

Quick morning report before I forget. Just talked to Rosemary on my way to work. Dr Kane had just been in. Said x-ray of stomach didnt show anything but he wants to do a CT scan on it to make sure. She asked about why he was so swollen if he was so dehydrated? He is slowing down the fluids and said that blood work will show if it is the hydration or actually the renal fluids from his kidneys not functioning properly. Lets hope for option 1. Also asked about the feeding tube, what if he just isnt tolerating it. Dr Kane said we would just change the formula, kinda like a baby. Said xray from yesterday showed more activity in the lungs. Not sure if it is from tumor or fluid in lungs so we are watching that.

***Rosemary just called. Bloodwork back calcium down to 11.1(Thank God!!!) Creatine still a little high so still have to work on kidney function. Putting IV fluids back to normal. Daddy was headed down to CT scan right now so I will have more of an update this evening. Sorry about the choppiness of these posts, i just have to type as I remember. So many things going on!! Thanks as always for continued prayers and support.

1 step forward and 2 steps back.....

The day started off great! Brittany said as soon as she walked in this morning, he started singing Happy Birthday to her. Really made her day and mine too when she texted me to tell me. Said he had just had a bath(sponge) and he looked great.

Staff meeting all day today and I get to the hospital to a totally different situation. Still concerned about his stomach. Very swollen and they said he was hurting in his stomach. So Dr ordered to stop the feeding tube for a day or so. They gave him some pain medicine and said that calmed him down quite a bit. Dr Fredericks(on call for Bergeron who is off today) came in and told family kidneys still not functioning right and calcium is still too high. Ordered a PICC line to be inserted becuase he isnt getting hydrated fast enough. Said we can give medicine through this and can also do chemo through it.

When i got there at 5:15, he was OUT. Come to find out they had doubled his morphene from 4 to 8. Why I am really not sure but he never even knew I was there tonight I dont think. Hopefully we will go back to 4 at a time. Took xray of stomach to see what was going on there. Waiting on those results. Overall, not a very lucid alert day:(

Please continue to pray that we can get his calcium number down and his kidneys functioning right. Also that whatever is wrong with his stomach is minor. We HAVE to get to the chemo part.

Tonight I left the hospital about 8:20. Partly because Haileigh asked if I was coming home before she went to sleep and partly because it was time for a "hide in the closet" breakdown. It is so hard to see anyone you love like this, but when you have seen one parent like this, its even harder to go through again. Its de' ja vu all over again. Same floor, same hospital. Thank God for my family and friends. And all of daddy's friends! It has meant so much to all of us(including him) that you have called, come by or just checked in with us. Please dont stop! Some of you have asked to call or come by.. which is fine but he is just not always up to talking. Thought I would give my address in case anyone wanted to send a card or note or anything. 4800 Weaver Rd Lake Charles, La 70605.

Results for today

So today was a pretty good day. He was very coherent and very talkative. More so in the early day. Think he got tired towards the end.

Ultrasound went good. No casualties:) Kidney Dr says ultrasound was normal. No obstructions or anything huge. Just dehydration causing the problems. Easily fixed with medicine that will also help with his calcium and bones too. This was a huge victory because we cant start chemo or anything until his kidney function gets straight. And we dont have allot of time to wait for big problems.

Results we got today...
Dr. Bergeron came in this evening(before 10:30 pm thank goodness) and most all of the news was good. His potassium is down to 5.1(Normal 5.3) Calcium is going down. We started at 14.5, we are down to 13.1(normal is 10.5) This is the main thing causing the disorientation. So we are moving in the right direction. One battle at a time right? He is going to try and get him up in the next day or two. Sit in a chair, walk a little bit. Still on liquid diet but he atleast has an appetite. Small victories are awesome. His goal right now is to have Daddy home by the weekend. Then we will talk about chemo and radiation. Feel like I am rambling but I have to post what I remember when I remember it. He is getting pain medicine fewer and farther between which is great. Going about 6 hours in between shots.

Ya know that commercial "Life moves at ya fast......" yeah well it has been moving like a freight train right through our lives. We cannot believe how fast all of this has happened. Would just love to have some normalcy in the middle of this monster we are fighting called "cancer". Thanks as always for continued prayers and thoughts.

I am out of town tomorrow so post maybe late and may not be much info. Hopefully more good news to report. Tomorrow is my baby girls' 18th bday. Not exactly the bday any of us planned for her, but we will make it as good as possible. She has been at hospital every free chance she gets taking care of her PaPa. Hate what this is doing to her too. But we will get through this as a family.. night all. going on 3 hours sleep. Hoping for 7 tonight. Whoop whoop.

1st of Many

Good Morning Everyone,

First let me say thank you to all of you for your continued prayers and support for Daddy during his illness. There are so many people wanting updates so I decided this would be the easiest way to keep everybody updated. I wish I would have started on day one, but we will summarize up til today and go from there.
As of right now we know the cancer is in his lung(we think this is the primary source) liver, trachea, bones and lymph nodes. So needless to say we are fighting a doozie!! It all started when he was having bad back pain all over his back. That is when he went to Dr for a series of tests that found the cancer. On March 3 we started him on a Fentnyl patch for pain and Hydrocodone at night to help him sleep. This started a downward spiral that none of us were expecting so soon. He became very disoriented, lost his appetite and pretty much slept all the time. Finally after a week of it getting worse, we called the Dr and he told us to pull the patch and up the Hydrocodone. We did on March 10 and he had a good day. He ate two full tacos and stayed up to watch a couple of TV shows. Then after that, downhill we went again. He started eating less and throwing up everything he ate. So on Saturday morning March 13, we brought him into St Pats. He was extremely dehydrated and in need of some major nourishment. They hooked him up IV with fluids. Finally that night we got to see the oncologist, Dr Bergeron. He was wonderful. He didnt have any of Daddys records yet but he listened to everything we had been going through and started the ball rolling. He changed his pain med to morphene, ordered blood work and was ordering a brain scan to check for problems in the brain. Bloodwork came back within the hour(which is now midnight) and he let us know immediately(did i mention we loved him!!) Showed his calcium and potassium levels are elevated. Bergeron thinks this is causing the disorientation so we canceled brain scan for now. Sped up liquids to lower levels. Hasnt worked yet but we are still fighting. He got a stomach tube for nutrition and catheter inserted yesterday.
This morning he is talking a little better, not perfect but little more lucid. Waiting now on ultrasound for kidneys and bladder. Thinking kidneys arent functioning as good as needed.
Bergeron will be here this morning but not sure if he has biopsy results. Once he has those we can talk treatment. But cant start treatment until we get strength back up. Vicious cycle that we are all ready to get off.


***Bergeron just came back in. Biopsy back and its all confirmed.. Primary source is lung. Without chemo we are looking at weeks, with chemo, depending on reaction to it we hopefully can get to a year or two. So not the news we wanted to hear but now we focus on getting his kidney function back so we can start chemo.

Sorry this one is long, but I will start to update daily or more than once a day. Thank you ALL for your support. We couldnt make it without yall!!! Please save the blog to your favorites, as this is how I will continue to update. Thanks to Lisa Marie for this great idea. :)