Exertion and coughing

It has now reached the point where the tiniest exertion--sitting up, walking to the next room--sets off a fit of gasping and coughing. I spoke with Louise (who is filling in for Lauren), who spoke with the hospice doctor, and this afternoon he prescribed another medicine that's supposed to help with the coughing. So far I've taken two doses and haven't noticed any difference, but I will wait until at least tomorrow before making a judgment.

Meanwhile, my PCA Susan seems to have disappeared. She was away for two weeks, but when I talked with her late last week she said she'd be doing her usual Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons this week. Then she called on Tuesday to say something had come up that she had to attend to, but she'd be here on Wednesday. Since then, nothing. I've called her several times and left voicemail, but haven't heard back. This afternoon, I added "I hope you're okay"; it's very mysterious.

Because of all this coughing I'm totally exhausted, and have been drifting off to sleep a lot during the day. Yesterday I was just coming awake from a nap when my phone rang and I heard Marty answer it, "Judi Chamberlin's phone." I was awake enough to let Marty know that I wanted to know who it was, and he said "He says an old friend of yours." I got on the phone and it was my old friend John, who I was out of touch with for quite awhile until a few months ago. We caught up on where things were in our lives, and he said it was possible that he might be making a trip to Massachusetts around the time of my party! That would be great--it's been years since we've seen each other.

Meanwhile, I've gotten a video from Dan Fisher to show (he's going to be on vacation that week), and today there was an e-mail from a group in Portugal that I've done work with, and they said they'd be sending a video too. Things are beginning to come together.

Now I have to hope I won't be too exhausted to enjoy it.