Went to spend my evening with Gary last night. I arrived in the middle of dinner, to our youngest daughter assisting him. He ate 100% of his dinner...feeding himself a lot of it. We're still experiencing random high levels of lucidity ranging down to coma sleeps. In the midst of us sitting there, his main evening caregiver asks me if 115 pounds sounds about right in relation to his last weigh-in.
I am initially shocked to hear this number, though I have seen him with his shirt off earlier in the week, and all ribs, his spine and the concave areas under his collar bone are very prominent. So recovering mentally and putting this into perspective, I answer that, yes, 115 is probably highly likely based on his Sept 5 previous weight of 126. Discussing it further with her, it's probably the most accurate weight we've had since admission,
because she weighed him with a lift with just him and no wheelchair to
subtract or pump mistakenly left in the chair with him, that easily adds
1.5 lbs. What a shock, though, overall, considering he's been eating more these past two weeks since his move to the Memory Care unit.
Depressingly, what this is telling me is that he is no longer absorbing nutrients from his food and is losing ground in spite of eating. I was hopeful his increased intake (including the fun popcorn snacks we bring that I posted about Monday) might be helping him gain some ground or offset some of the meals he misses when in his coma sleeps, but not so.
Add to that the fact that we decided to confirm his weight before bed, to compare the hoyer lift weight to an actual scale. We prepare a 3-person plan to put him in the pre-weighed transport chair, connecting his tank oxygen in a cart and carry his CADD pump, plus keep him upright, while pushing him out to the scale. Because he's sitting up to transfer, he rapidly becomes nauseated and sick to his stomach, losing part of his dinner because he ate too much and his body is rejecting it. So very sad. He is alert and speaking to us during this entire process. His stomach calms down, we make the transfer and take him out. The scale weight is 117, but with the big meal and all the fluids he took in at dinner, we guess he's about 116...still a 10 pound drop in less than 30 days.
Frightening and discouraging. Even though we have been on Hospice for 10 months, the shock of each step and phase is so real and brings a new sense of finality. How much more can he lose and still survive? 115 pounds is SO light on his 6' frame... :-(
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