Since my last post, I have come to think of each day as a good day or bad day for Eli. Saturday and Sunday were “Bad” days, while Monday was a “Good” day. Today? A little bit of both.

What is a bad day?

This is a day where Eli is too tired to engage with the world and sleeps most of the time. He’s awake only long enough to take meds or eat a little food. He might have nausea and throw up or there is break through pain. Fortunately, we’ve had the pain under control for awhile, so it’s mostly fatigue and sometimes nausea.

What is a good day?

A good day is one with good nausea and pain control. Eli is awake longer and feels up to an outing or watching tv or spending time with visitors.

On a good day, Eli may eat a box of donuts, a juicy steak, or a bag of candy.

Today

Today Eli is awake a little more, but had nausea earlier in the day. Later he ate a bunch of donuts and our friend Jackie made videos of him for us to watch later. He has slept on and off, but is otherwise alert.

How long?

We admitted Eli to hospice yesterday. His day to day care hasn’t really changed, but I felt that he is at a point where their services would be useful. We would have admitted him sooner, but then the insurance wouldn’t have covered the radiation treatments, so we waited until I was more sure that we wouldn’t need palliative treatment for awhile.

Over the weekend, I thought we maybe only had a couple weeks left with him, but the last couple days he’s been doing better, so I am thinking that is the case. Hospice hasn’t ventured a guess, so I won’t either at this time. Time will tell.