YHC arrived to plant the VSF after being out of town the previous week. T-Claps to the PAX who made a special effort to make it by for a visit. Upon arrival, YHC washed up and headed upstairs to see Dufresne. It seemed longer than a week since YHC posted and it was good to be back. Dufresne was in bed and appeared to be comfortable. Dufresne has been in the bed since returning home from the hospital in January. YHC talked for a bit and about 30 seconds in, YHC noticed Dufresne’s eyes focusing in and could tell he could hear me. The twinkle in his eyes is still there, through the medication and the pain. We visited for a few minutes more until YHC could tell Dufresne was drifting off to sleep. YHC prayed us out and I headed to the car to text MDufresne how things went. She was at Pack Man’s swim meet.
According to MDufresne’s latest Caringbridge.org post, Dufresne has days not weeks left with us. Our visits take place on Tuesday, Thursdays, and Fridays at 5:00 pm. Join us if you can, sign up is below. If that schedule doesn’t work for you, stop by 2809 Stone Gap Court at a time that does. It will be appreciated and will certainly mean a great deal to the family.
Prayers continue for healing, peace, comfort.
Hopebuilder Sign Up Google Doc
I was going to write the other day about the crazy things that have been happening over the past several days (with our generator turning on after a storm, but the electricity never following suite – all at 1:30 am and after calls and running around, the service man had to switch a little lever inside the panel box and all was well……. to…. the nurse and I needing to change Jim’s trach in an emergency situation with Jim’s oxygen decreasing continually all the way down to the 70s before the problem was resolved – that was stressful to say the least), but now that all seems to dull in comparison. Today the nurse and I noticed that Jim’s left arm had some “crinkling” to it – that same noise and feeling that it had when Jim was so swollen. Didn’t think too much about it other than “need to keep an eye on that”. So off to Braxton’s swim meet and then the phone call – Jim has started to swell again. It’s not his face this time, but it is his neck, his upper chest, his abdomen area. The thought is that this is fluid and/or pressure building up from Jim not urinating frequently. The Hospice nurse was called in and after a catheter was placed, some pressure and urine was released (but Jim is still swollen, but not as bad as he was). The really bad news though is that the urine that was released is tea colored. So, they believe Jim’s kidney’s are starting to shut down. Fortunately he is heavily medicated and does not seem to be in pain. His heart rate is in the high 40s/low 50s, which as you know is very low for Jim. After speaking to the Hospice nurse, she guesses that maybe Jim has days left. She of course is not sure, but knows Jim’s body is tired and the signs are pointing towards “days left” rather than “weeks left.” Still, Jim is quite there mentally. A friend from Tennessee stopped by yesterday and at first Jim was alert with eyes open, but no facial expressions at all. Then it was like the drugs wore off for just a bit or Jim worked up just enough energy, but his eyes turned to look at Michael and after Michael said something Jim gave him the biggest smile. I know that took everything Jim had, but what a gift to see him smile. I haven’t seen it in weeks – maybe even months.
