Old-Timers

Griff • Feb 24, 2019 11:22 am
We got a text yesterday on the way home from Killington that Pete's step-Dad's alcohol, Alzheimer's, heart arrhythmia routine has been punched up to include a stroke. Remind me to look at a DNR for myself. Anyway late night holding hands with a pretty out of it old guy keeping him from getting agitated. Not a great scene. We know how this ends but not how much time modern medicine will prop him up for be it hours or years.
Diaphone Jim • Feb 24, 2019 12:04 pm
A good thing can come if everyone does check their DNR and other orders.
Gravdigr • Feb 24, 2019 12:34 pm
Shit Griff, that's tough, man.

Let Pete know we're thinking about her.
limey • Feb 24, 2019 12:36 pm
Tough times. Sending love.

Sent by magick
Griff • Feb 24, 2019 12:52 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroic_measure

In medicine, heroic treatment or course of therapy is one which possesses a high risk of causing further damage to a patient's health, but is undertaken as a last resort with the understanding that any lesser treatment will surely result in failure.[1]

Heroic measures are often taken in cases of grave injury or illness, as a last-ditch attempt to save life, limb, or eyesight. Examples include emergency trauma surgery conducted outside the operating room (such as "on-scene" surgical amputation, cricothyroidotomy, or thoracotomy), or administration of medication (such as certain antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs) at dosage levels high enough to potentially cause serious or fatal side effects.[2][3]

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a particularly well-known heroic measure; vigorous chest compressions often result in fracturing one or more of the patient's ribs, but since the alternative is certain death, the technique is accepted as necessary.

Patients with advanced AIDS and concomitant pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) are in serious danger of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A heroic rescue could use the chemotherapeutic drug trimetrexate, which would destroy bone marrow as well as the PCP, although leucovorin can protect the marrow.


Trying to think about level of care vs quality of life... too many known unknowns.
BigV • Feb 24, 2019 1:10 pm
Diaphone Jim;1026573 wrote:
A good thing can come if everyone does check their DNR and other orders.


A Do Not Resuscitate order sounds very final (IS very final), but it isn't the only option, indeed, not always applicable.

Please include a POLST.
Gravdigr • Feb 24, 2019 1:26 pm
Griff;1026580 wrote:
Trying to think about level of care vs quality of life... too many known unknowns.


Ya do the best ya can do, and that's all ya can do.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. The mind numbs.
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 24, 2019 1:38 pm
Fuck that, resuscitate me so I can grope the nurse and curse you motherfuckers one more time. [evil]Bwahahahahaha!![/evil]

Ran across an interesting tidbit awhile back.
Since 2000, hospice patients have tripled in Minnesota, accounting for half the deaths.

Better insurance? More doctors recommending? Get the almost dead one out of the way of normal routine? Ain't nobody got time for that? I'm agonna inherit that house I don't want 'em dying there?
glatt • Feb 24, 2019 1:54 pm
I'm sorry Griff and Pete. It's a difficult thing to go through. No schedule, no map, no control.
Glinda • Feb 24, 2019 2:08 pm
Griff;1026570 wrote:
We got a text yesterday on the way home from Killington that Pete's step-Dad's alcohol, Alzheimer's, heart arrhythmia routine has been punched up to include a stroke. Remind me to look at a DNR for myself. Anyway late night holding hands with a pretty out of it old guy keeping him from getting agitated. Not a great scene. We know how this ends but not how much time modern medicine will prop him up for be it hours or years.


I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this. It's such a painful thing. My thoughts are with you and the whole family.

:sniff:
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 24, 2019 4:04 pm
It's the worst because you know what's happening and there's not a damn thing you can do about it no matter how hard you wish.:(
Griff • Feb 24, 2019 5:03 pm
Thanks all.

BigV;1026585 wrote:

Please include a POLST.

Interesting. Thanks again.

xoxoxoBruce;1026619 wrote:
It's the worst because you know what's happening and there's not a damn thing you can do about it no matter how hard you wish.:(

Yeah, I need to just admit this and let it happen.
Clodfobble • Feb 25, 2019 12:23 am
Sorry, Griff. Please pass along a hug to Pete for us.
Griff • Feb 25, 2019 7:22 am
Thanks Clod. Vascular surgery today. Pete's mom is pretty much a Pollyanna, this shits gonna hit hard when it hits but that is the way she's rolled for 83 years so interfering in that would be like telling me the glass ain't half-empty. I wouldn't know what to do with a half-full glass, I might spill it.
Clodfobble • Feb 25, 2019 3:08 pm
I hear ya. Like, even if the glass is completely full, the smart thing to do would be to split it into two half-empty glasses so they're more manageable. That's just common sense.
Griff • Feb 25, 2019 6:17 pm
You get it!

Unexpected good news today. The bleeding was from a fall (drunken) and being on blood thinners. They expect him to largely recover back to where he was. Pollyanna dodges another bullet.
Clodfobble • Feb 25, 2019 6:55 pm
Yay!
Glinda • Feb 25, 2019 7:40 pm
Wow! Good news. :)
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 26, 2019 1:49 am
Griff;1026654 wrote:
Thanks Clod. Vascular surgery today. Pete's mom is pretty much a Pollyanna, this shits gonna hit hard when it hits but that is the way she's rolled for 83 years so interfering in that would be like telling me the glass ain't half-empty. I wouldn't know what to do with a half-full glass, I might spill it.


Non sequitur, I got a compliment today on one of the pieces Pete's Mom made for me. :thumb:
Griff • Feb 26, 2019 7:11 am
Nice, she loves it when compliments filter back, this one will. :)
xoxoxoBruce • Feb 26, 2019 1:05 pm
Tell her it was Seasons...

[ATTACH]66588[/ATTACH]

although I get frequent comments on this one too.

[ATTACH]66589[/ATTACH]
Clodfobble • Feb 26, 2019 6:54 pm
Seasons is beautiful, but I have to admit... it bugs me that they go counter-clockwise.
Happy Monkey • Feb 26, 2019 6:57 pm
I suspect that's because the person who carved the mold did it clockwise, without considering that it would be reversed, since it didn't have any words or other things that would immediately cause them to consider that.
Griff • Feb 28, 2019 7:45 am
I'll let her know. That's one of my favorites as well.
Griff • Mar 2, 2019 8:33 am
She was happy to hear that.

MRSA - looks like we're using precautions this morning.
Gravdigr • Mar 2, 2019 11:13 am
Shit.:eek:
Griff • Mar 2, 2019 5:53 pm
Extubation failed. He is back under sedation. This does not appear to be going well.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 3, 2019 1:00 am
Alzheimer's got my Dad, went from fine, to couldn't function outside the house, to a locked ward in the Soldiers home, to dead in 6 months.
Griff • Mar 3, 2019 8:43 am
Yeah, the decline is stunning.
Glinda • Mar 3, 2019 1:53 pm
xoxoxoBruce;1027186 wrote:
Alzheimer's got my Dad, went from fine, to couldn't function outside the house, to a locked ward in the Soldiers home, to dead in 6 months.


It took 10 months for both my folks. :(
Glinda • Mar 3, 2019 1:54 pm
Griff;1027164 wrote:
Extubation failed. He is back under sedation. This does not appear to be going well.


Sorry to hear it, Griff. Thinking of you and your family today. :sniff:
Griff • Mar 15, 2019 7:47 am
He is in an old folks home. I'm seeing cracks in the reality my MiL is trying to support. She's exhausted and he is the same. Sad times.
glatt • Mar 15, 2019 8:09 am
I hope they make him comfortable there, and he embraces it.
Clodfobble • Mar 15, 2019 8:18 am
:( Sorry, Griff.
Griff • Mar 16, 2019 10:03 pm
It is done.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
BigV • Mar 16, 2019 10:58 pm
My friend...


I'm with you, from here.
Clodfobble • Mar 17, 2019 1:03 am
May his memory be a blessing.
xoxoxoBruce • Mar 17, 2019 1:25 am
He gave Griff the greatest gift of all... his daughter.
Gravdigr • Mar 17, 2019 7:31 am
Sorry about this Griffster.

Give Pete a hug for us.

:blackr:
fargon • Mar 17, 2019 10:32 am
Give Pete a hug for us.
glatt • Mar 17, 2019 11:51 am
I'm sorry Griff
Glinda • Mar 17, 2019 1:52 pm
He is at peace. I hope you and your family find peace in this. {{{Griff & Pete}}}
Griff • Mar 18, 2019 7:32 am
Thank you so much guys. David lived beautifully by staying interested in the world around him. I hope that this is evident to all the Grandkids. The amount of anxiety and despair I see in kids now seems to me to be related to a physical disengagement from things of interest and from the natural world. Dave and I spoke of this often. He had a great ability to spark interest. His hope for technology would be for it to support interests not distract from them. I know that I have to be very intentional on-line as my brain doesn't do a great job of stopping me from making the next click. I love that the cellar has some intentionality to it. People are still the most important part of this place.

Peace
limey • Mar 27, 2019 7:30 pm
He sounds like a man who will have given those who knew him much to think about and remember him by. Hugs to you and your family in your time of loss x


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Griff • Apr 12, 2019 7:40 am
So every time I go to my Mother-in-Laws she suggests I take things. She gave me a clutch of hand tools last night that I'll have to sort through and a couple more knives. He gave me a lot of knives over the years.
BigV • Apr 12, 2019 11:01 am
Those are lovely.

You have some nice tools and you give a gift in return by graciously accepting them. It's satisfying for the giver to see their things being put to use and to see the pleasure of the receiver.
xoxoxoBruce • Apr 12, 2019 11:20 am
The fact you could set those planes on the couch to photograph them, without starting a war, says volumes about your peaceable kingdom. :thumb:
Griff • Apr 12, 2019 2:01 pm
BigV;1030199 wrote:
Those are lovely.

You have some nice tools and you give a gift in return by graciously accepting them. It's satisfying for the giver to see their things being put to use and to see the pleasure of the receiver.

Wise words. It took me a long time to figure that out.
xoxoxoBruce;1030201 wrote:
The fact you could set those planes on the couch to photograph them, without starting a war, says volumes about your peaceable kingdom. :thumb:


I'm always surprised what couples find to fight about. I'm just gonna go ahead and count that blessing.
glatt • Apr 12, 2019 5:19 pm
I'm a big fan of those hybrid planes with the wooden bodies and metal guts. Easy to adjust the depth and the wood just glides over the work surface.
Griff • Apr 13, 2019 11:13 am
Can't wait to find a job for them.
Griff • Jun 25, 2019 7:40 am
So the old guy had more guns. The potential Columbine kid, you know the unemployed college graduate who games in the basement while his arthritic mom mows the lawn, across the street asked about getting one. Yeah, no, that won't fly. FiLs blood relatives are afraid of guns so I'm pretty well stocked now. I'm going to find a good home for some of them. I also was given a bunch of fly fishing gear, which is very cool. The clean out has been pretty wild, the man had his passions. Garden scale trains and telescopes will probably land on ebay...
Clodfobble • Jun 25, 2019 10:20 am
Griff;1034688 wrote:
The potential Columbine kid, you know the unemployed college graduate who games in the basement while his arthritic mom mows the lawn, across the street asked about getting one. Yeah, no, that won't fly.


Thank you. If only all retailers would be so conscientious.
Griff • Jun 25, 2019 6:19 pm
It's got me wondering about this whole generation leaving their guns behind...
glatt • Jun 25, 2019 7:57 pm
Just more stuff.
xoxoxoBruce • Jun 26, 2019 1:56 am
No, not just more stuff. You don't leave them on the curb for the trashman, you don't shuffle them off to Goodwill, or put them up on ebay in a surprise box. :headshake
Somebody has to take the time for some serious thinking about the disposal. It's a conundrum for that person because a gun in the worst shape possible is still worth money.
Probably the lowest $ return is selling to a licensed dealer, and the highest is selling on the street. The Good-Doobie return is reversed.
Griff • Jun 26, 2019 7:11 am
There aren't that many hunters in the followup generations. So we have a shit-ton of weapons being handed off to folks without any firearms training or any use for them... It gives me pause.
sexobon • Jun 26, 2019 5:25 pm
Help your fellow living creatures by taking those guns to the zoo, loading them, and giving them to the monkeys so they don't have to fling shit anymore. How degrading that must be for them.
Griff • Jun 27, 2019 7:12 am
The monkeys won't learn self-sufficiency if you do it for them.
Gravdigr • Jun 27, 2019 1:20 pm
But they'll learn ballistics.
Gravdigr • Jun 27, 2019 1:23 pm
I am for the arming of zoo monkeys, don't get me wrong, but I think they have to be released onto the public.

If I can't hunt over bait, then neither can the monkeys.

Also, if they take a gun, they have to give up the typewriter. Only one weapon per monkey.
Griff • Jun 28, 2019 7:05 am
Sensible.
Gravdigr • Jun 28, 2019 12:23 pm
[size=1]Ne'er been called that before...Prolly talking 'bout somebody else...[/size]