Grandpa, Victoria, packing

For those of you that have not heard, Grandpa got a relatively poor prognosis in his appointment with the kidney specialist yesterday. The finding of the doctor was that Grandpa was showing no more than 30% kidney function. That, in and of itself is not an immediate threat; however, when that function falls to 15% or less, his body will shut down quickly. No one can predict how rapidly the degradation will happen. Grandpa, because of his ongoing heart issues, is not eligible for dialysis – which would be a remedy to someone in better health.

With that diagnosis, we are left with waiting for the kidneys to wear out. The doctor told Mama that for someone with this condition, the vast majority of patients that die of kidney failure simply fall asleep one day and do not wake up from that final rest. It is not an unpleasant way to go home, but there are few indicators that that moment is at hand. So, we strive to enjoy Grandpa’s good days and hope we have many more of them.

Grandpa shared with Mama a few mornings ago that he feels like he is dying. Translating Grandpa is difficult but what we are hearing is that he has the underlying sense that his life will be ending soon. Recently, he has about two to three low days in a row followed by one good day. On the good day, he will walk, do some little thing outside and sit up most of the day. On the low days, much of his time is spent lying in bed. Yesterday, following his and Grandma’s normal breakfast routine (coffee and pecan rolls) he left the bed only to make trips to the bathroom. He endured the ride to and from the doctor’s office, but he did not feel well.

He is mostly satisfied with his life. He is ready to go home. How much longer he will allow himself to live at 30% capacity is difficult to predict, but his work passion and his active spirit will not be satisfied to do so too much longer. If you have something to say to Grandpa, now is the time. If you feel the need to spend a few hours visiting with him, now is the time. All are welcome. Mama and I will do our best to accommodate anyone who comes. For calls, mornings are the best times to connect with Grandpa.

Last night was cold, so I started a fire in the fireplace and it has been kept going through the night and into today. We have a Windsor chair facing the fireplace which is Grandpa’s favorite place to sit while enjoying the fire. He typically takes on the responsibility of tending to the fire – getting the wood from the piles stacked in the sunroom, arranging the logs on the grate and making sure the fire keeps going. It is not much but it gives him something to do that he can do. Plus, we all enjoy the fire, especially Grandma and Grandpa.

The only challenge in maintaining the fire is that, in Grandma’s mind, if there is not a significant flame, she does not consider it to be an actual fire. A glowing bed of coals, though they generate significant heat, is not a fire to Grandma. Grandpa therefore is constantly urged to put another log on the fire, stir up the fire, rearrange the logs on the fire, or some other effort to get the flames to burn more fully. When Grandma is dissatisfied with the outcomes of Grandpa’s efforts, she will try her hand at getting the flame to dance a little higher. Mama and I let the two of them work it out. It is a fun dynamic to watch.

Victoria’s appointment, as I mentioned before, left her with the option to have the lumps removed from her breasts or monitor them on a six-month recurring basis. After doing an analysis of the cost/benefit of the two follow-up pathways and having found out that the surgery is affordable, quick and fairly easy to recover from, she has tentatively decided to have the surgery. Several of our lady friends have advised Victoria that since there is a real danger that the lumps have the capacity to become cancerous, it is best to eliminate that risk completely if possible. So, that is being mapped into our future scheduling of activities, which for now revolves around the trip to Honduras. That will be happening in just a couple weeks.

As I look over the stack of boxes and loose items Mama and I are taking to Honduras, I am thinking that we will need to take an extra suitcase or tote to ensure we have room for our personal items as well as the gifts and purchases that we have accumulated to be included for transport. It is not a big deal, but it is something we need to plan carefully for. Some of the most difficult items to pack are ones that Mama and I have bought. Cori and Nate tend to be far more thoughtful about packages that have to be fit into suitcases, considering both the dimensions of the purchases and the weight of each item. Mama, not so much. I tend to do what I can to accommodate Mama in those decisions. Sometimes it works out easily. Sometimes not.  Fortunately, Victoria just made a trip to Honduras, so the stack we are following up with is considerable smaller than it might have been.

Hopefully, Mama and I can figure it all out.