Tough Weekend

This past weekend was tough. Mike ran a fever of approx. 103 degrees on Fri, Sat., and Sun., nights. It's only been at night though, which is odd. Saturday we had a substitute aide and he did NOT do well at all. He only had a few bites to eat in the morning and evening and just about 4 cups of Gatorade instead of the normal 5-6. It's no wonder when the agency's nurse came for a visit Mike's blood pressure was 70/60. Normally, it would have freaked me out, BUT this particular nurse always gets low readings AND Mike was not very hydrated. I'll see what happens tomorrow when his regular hospice nurse comes. The doctor who had treated Mike for years after he was diagnosed, came over to visit on her own time, on Friday afternoon. Overall, she was pleased with what she saw, bearing in mind that she had not seen Mike in 6 years! She looked at his 4 pressure sores and surprisingly, she was not nervous about them. I HATE THEM and I think they're getting worse. I guess because she has seen so much worse over the years, she told me that they were "nothing". She also said that they look bad to me because for 10 years, Mike had never had a sore from his care at home. His skin has always been so well taken care of, now that it seems to be covered in pressure sores, I am beside myself. Each of the last four nights, we would get Mike into bed around 7-7:30 and he would start out OK. Then shortly thereafter he would start coughing - sometimes lasting for about an hour. Then because he was coughing so much, he would be breathing more rapidly. This is frightening and Brandon had a difficult time with it on Saturday night. Mike eventually calmed down, but the reality of what the kids are going through really hit home for me that night. I lost my dad when I was 44 - they have been losing their dad each and ever day since they were 7 & 9. They suffer losses each and very time something different happens with Mike and my heart breaks for them.