From: Rachelle Miller [pcm@teleport.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 7:00 PM

Subject: Re: Update on Peter
Hello all,

Well, we are back home again.  Peter spent a total of 12 days in the hospital, and as you probably can bet, couldn't wait to get home.  He came home on Thursday night.  I was filled with fear and trepidation...he still isn't walking very well and I wasn't sure I could get him IN let alone OUT of the van.  But, we did it.  Whew.  It's a process...bed to wheelchair to walker to van seat, lift the legs, scoot a bit (wince a lot), close the door.  Fold up the walker, put it in the back, fold up the wheelchair and do the same.  Get in.  Drive.  Reverse the process.  We're still working on a way to get him over the threshhold of the door.  So far I have been tipping him back and lifting the chair up.  But, he still weighs 240 pounds and it scares us both to death when I do it.  We tried having him stand up with the walker and moving the chair inside and then having him sit in the chair, but that's just about as scary and I'm on the wrong side of the chair if he falls.  I'm working on finding someone to build us a small ramp, but I haven't got the details down yet.  In the meantime, I told Calvin not to cross me because I'm building some MEAN biceps!

Peter is feeling fairly well.  He is using a newer pain medication, Fentanyl, which comes in a patch that we change every 3 days.  So far it is managing his pain very well without making him groggy or goofy.  (They had him on so much morphine in the hospital I had to remind him to chew.  Then there was the day he was still chewing...2 hours AFTER breakfast.  Seems he "saved" some eggs...) He adds a small dose of long-acting morphine at night and so far he's had no major complaints.  May God help us if he gets overly tired, though.  At that point, all bets are off and every muscle that could cause him grief vies for attention.  Needless to say, it makes the issue of transportation more complicated whether it's from the van or from the chair in the living room!.

He will receive physical therapy at home, probably 2 times a week.  We have a great praise, his therapist will be a longtime friend, Karen Smoot.  We have known her for at least 14 years, and it will be a pleasure to work with her.

Peter has one more radiation treatment left, then the oncologists want to put him back on the chemo regimen he had last month.  It actually was working, another GREAT PRAISE, as it has been one of the only effective treatments he has had against his cancer.  His bloodwork is looking more positive, so they hope to start as early as the end of the week.  The key is for his platelet counts to stay high enough.  Getting over his urinary tract infection seems to have done wonders for that.  I'm just sorry it took them 3 days to figure it out.  He was terribly weak and sick and it's going to take a bit to bounce back.

We do have an electric hospital bed at home and that has been a blessing.  Peter is able to adjust himself to get more comfortable than he could in our big bed.  Plus, getting in and out of bed is easier because he can use the controls to help position himself.  We borrowed a walker from our dear friend, Sylvia.  THANK YOU!  It has been heaven sent, is easy to use, and is just the right size.

Peter is planning to go on 50% short-term disablility and work from home 50%.  We have some "issues" to deal with trying to arrange the office so he can safely and comfortably get to his computer, but Amber is working on it.  I know it will feel good to him to be able to get back in the swing of things.

We got some sad news on Friday.  Our dear friend, Rochka Premo, lost her battle with pancratic cancer.  She and Peter battled through their surgeries and treatments together and her loss is felt greatly.  Rochka and Ron have been surrogate parents and grandparents for our family for nearly all of the 17+ years we have lived in Oregon.  We will miss her immeasurably.

Well, that's about all of the news from the Miller Ranch.  As you can see, I still don't have my mailing list updated, so if you see that I have missed someone, please pass on the news.  PLEASE  feel free to give us a call to check in.  Peter enjoys hearing from you and catching up on the news.  Now it's off to do a bit of nursing...

Hugs,

Rachelle
 

PS for the Miller Family:  I still haven't gotten Linda's new email address, and I can't seem to find Steve and Barb's...could one of you send them on plus any other's I'm missing?  Thanks.  Much love!  R