Originally posted by Jonathan Mac I'm very sad to read this. Steve's message in his thread reporting he had moved his thoughts to palliative care was only posted on the 25th of last month - from what he said I had the impression that he expected to be around for more than a further week.
RIP
Originally posted by reh321 Of course, he may have expected more time himself, Medical science is inexact. The doctor gave my Mother “two or three more days”, and I continually received texts from my siblings as my brother raced from New Mexico and my sister from Virginia. Everyone did arrive in time to say “Good Bye” to her drugged self. She did die in something like 2 days and 20 hours after that diagnosis ….. but nobody assumed that she would last that long, that was the reason for the texts {“is she still alive - should we continue rushing?”}
In my Mother's case, a Nurse's Aid had noticed a strange bulge in my Mother's abdomen while providing routine care. By the time I got to the Nursing Home, my Mother had been to the hospital for an ultra-sound. The doctor gave me the news quietly in my Mother's room, but we don't know what she (over-)heard, and the staff decided to say nothing to her directly. By the time I talked to the doctor, he had already called the local Hospice organization, which could begin palliative care on Monday, so he {the doctor} called a Hospice up in Michigan {a dozen miles away}, which had morphine in her within a few hours. She died Saturday morning. Of course I don't know when her body was cremated, but that could have been done before the local Hospice had planned to show up.
We understand now why Steve was no longer a candidate for a transplant. A compassionate doctor may have told him as little as possible, and posting here may have been one of his last actions before he was hit by morphine.