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Lebanon, Oregon, United States
We are Terry & Cathye Kinkelaar. If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that Lydia, my beautiful wife of 52 years, and I made the lifestyle choice to move to Oregon in 2017. You've seen my posts about losing her in May 2020 to cancer. Although I was left alone, I am pleased to say that I have found happiness again. In April 2021, I met Cathye, who also lost her longtime husband in 2020. Well, we fell in love and were married in April 2022. So, if folks are still interested, I will continue to post here as we move forward with our lives and adventures!

Friday, March 6, 2020

Oregon Living 2020 – Blog #18 – More Visits & Good Solid Progress


Monday, Mar 2nd, 2020……  This morning we left for the hospital in groups. Jeff has been hit with a cold or allergies so he went by himself early this morning.  He masked up and stayed well away from his mom so she wouldn’t get any germs. Eddie stayed home this morning. He’s recently been in the hospital and had a collapsed lung on top of that so he needed some rest. He is in the motorhome, with all the amenities so he hung around there for the day. Randy and I met the girls at Jack in The Box and had breakfast. We had to go there for Tia, who was super excited because they don’t have JITBs in Wisconsin. Lydia was in dialysis when we got there. Doctors have told her that she will be on scheduled dialysis from now on because the chemo has shut down the kidney. We have a meeting tomorrow morning with the oncology doctor regarding future care.    
   
Tuesday, Mar 3rd, 2020…… We all got up and got going. The girls came over and we set up a roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight. Then we left and went to Shari’s for breakfast before going to the hospital for our meeting. Jeff had left way earlier. Ed didn’t make breakfast and went later to the hospital on his own.

Now for the reality check. The doctors told us they don’t think, with her compromised system, that she can take another round of chemo now. Her oncology team will have more to say about that but they wanted all of us to be aware of it for the immediate future. That’s tough because she needs that to fight the cancer. Right now she is doing physical therapy and when she gets to a stronger level they will be able to transfer her from the hospital to a rehab center for more therapy. She will also be transported to dialysis from there 2-3 times a week.

They also went over her advance directive. It went as expected. She doesn’t want any help with devices to prolong life and has a dnr in place. I understand and respect that - we have talked about it many times and I am of the same opinion when my time comes.  While it is not something anyone wants to talk about, it has to be done so that is over with now. We left her to rest and went back home and rested as well.  Later, we headed over to Pizza Schmizza for dinner. Most everyone now has travel plans made. Jeff leaves early tomorrow morning, Frances leaves tomorrow evening, Ed and Tia plan on leaving Thursday, Randy has made his flight arrangements for early Thursday as well.
Ed went home and the rest of us went back to see her after dinner. The girls had a surprise for her. They each did purple streaks in their hair! They did Lydia's hair too!


Wednesday, Mar 4th, 2020……  Today was another good day. The feeding tube is still in but the speech therapist who tests her vocals and swallow ability says she can go on to a more solid food diet now.  She had part of a sandwich today and some fruit and yogurt. The goal is to get to a full menu soon because the feeding tube does have a shelf life.  If she can’t get enough calories/proteins/carbs, etc., then she will need to have a more permanent feeding tube going in a port on her side directly to the stomach. There are no timeframes for anything yet. Jeff left this morning. Frances leaves this evening. Randy flies out early tomorrow. Ed and Tia said they are planning on leaving tomorrow driving back to Wisconsin. Maryanne and Cherrelyn are planning visits next week.    

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