Update

Well, we had Mom scheduled to start chemo the Wednesday after Thanksgiving, but she decided against undergoing treatment. The oncologist told us that only about 25% of non-small cell lung cancers (the ones associated with NOT smoking) respond to treatment, and as bad as she already felt, well, I couldn't really argue with her decision. And honestly, I doubt I'd have opted for chemo if I were in her position.

So Thanksgiving morning I headed to Athos' mom's house to have T-day dinner with them, spent the night, and drove back to my parents' house Friday morning . . . only to discover that Mom was having major heart problems. Atrial fibrillation is NOT your friend, folks, and neither is a chest cavity full of fluid! Off to the ER we went. In retrospect, we probably should have called the ambulance, but her doc just said "get her to the hospital".

Almost two weeks later she was released to go home. Why home instead of to the skilled nursing facility she really needed? Well, by that point the big mucking chest tube they used to siphon off several liters of fluid had been replaced with a smaller indwelling tube -- and apparently no one was willing to take responsibility for dealing with it. Let's get this straight: A drain set-up that the average lay person could be expected to handle after a single walk-through is too complicated for a trained health care provider?!? Gimme a f***ing break! The damn thing has a one-way valve in it, so the likelihood of ending up with pneumothorax is nil. Ditto for infection if simple, common-sense wound care is used.

So we got her set up for hospice care and took her home, and my aunt and I have been trading off "duty shifts" so Mom's never alone for more than a few minutes. One of us has been sleeping in the room with her, so as to be available if she needs anything in the night, while the other gets the bed for some uninterrupted rest. That's been working out pretty well, although we've both reached the point where we're needing some "away time" to avoid burnout and my aunt kindly allowed me to take the first break. We'll be going back down in a few days, then my aunt will go home to spend Christmas with her family.

Why haven't I been posting? Well, it's like this: My parents' house has no internet access whatsoever, not even dial-up, and I have yet to locate any place with free wifi in that town. But I was smart -- before I left home I bought a wireless broadband card so I'd have 'net access. At least, I thought I was being smart. It took three weeks of off-and-on trial and error on my part, and over SIX HOURS of intensive attention by my wireless carrier's "experts" to get the damned device working. (Side note: I really really miss Alltel. I could dial *611 and talk to an actual person without having to wade through an almost endless number of prompts and menus, only to be told to "hang up and dial ___".)

But with any luck whatsoever, I'll be able to post once I'm back with Mom....