Author Archives: peternoerr

The final post

Peter died tonight, March 15, 2013 at 7.15 pm Eastern Standard Time.

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And so I fired the hospice nurse

We had a substitute nurse today and she was/is great – very caring, very compassionate, very professional.  She gave me some good advice, and not once mentioned the ‘end of life’ phrase.   I’d love her to be our hospice nurse, … Continue reading

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Is hospice the right choice?

While I know we can leave hospice at any time and check back into curative care, I’m in the process of debating the why’s and wherefore’s of this type of decision. Over the course of Peter’s illness, I’ve developed a … Continue reading

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Family and visits and thoughts

We’re a small but close family and everyone is here and/or available for Peter (and me, but Peter is first and foremost).  Kristina arrived from San Francisco a few days ago, and has spent a great deal of time being … Continue reading

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Adjusting – it’s not really the right word

So here we are in our apartment, which as everyone says (everyone being family thus far) is ‘us’.  We’ve always liked bright open spaces, and we like being downtown, although I haven’t really figured out what constitutes downtown in Durham. … Continue reading

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It’s bad news

It’s been some time since I’ve posted a blog, in fact about two weeks ago.  I started to write an entry about 8 or 9 days ago, which was to be called something like ‘and on it goes and on … Continue reading

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Another setback in the difficult journey through cancer

It’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks.   We had a visit from Peter’s sister Pam, from Port Elizabeth, South Africa (on the Eastern Cape for those who can’t pinpoint PE).   We were planning to have her write a … Continue reading

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Digging around laws, insurance providers, etc., gives some interesting information

I came across a blog by an oncologist discussing the cost of Abiraterone (a chemo drug which Peter had, but which failed after 4 months).  A patient of his had an enormous copay for the drug, something like $2300/month.    I’m … Continue reading

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Another lesson learned

It seems there’s an unending amount of learning to do when dealing with a very serious disease.   Although we’ve been trying hard to stuff Peter with calories, and he’s more or less maintaining his weight, he’s become quite dehydrated.  This … Continue reading

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We’re into the slough of slogging through side effects or disease symptoms

I’ve said this before – it’s harder to deal with the day to day of living with someone with a very serious disease than it is to deal with a crisis.   We’ve had more than our share of crises, … Continue reading

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