Penny in Hi This is Kat!

This is Penny… I know he is a boy but he is like a bad penny that keeps coming back! He is determined this is his yard! He is here ever morning and every night. Mark tries so scare him away as he leaves little poop piles. I could care less… I like him.

Today I had an early morning dental appt. at 7:30. When I got home Mark had a large fan in the door of the garage to help air out the garage… I cut His hair so he was trying to cool it down.... ANYWAY.... I looked in the back yard and there was Penny laying right in front of the fan! It was hilarious! I walked inside and Asked Mark if he put the fan out to cool off Penny

I went to see Jo yesterday. She seemed so tired! She had not showered for a week or so… which I am sorry to say is Jo. She never has been one to shower every day. Her eyes looked jaundice and she had bruises on her arms from falling down in the shower.... :( She was wearing jeans way too big for her. I am glad I got her three pairs of jeans over the weekend. The condo was a wreck but it always is! The homeless guys GF keeps bringing things over to the condo???? like bar stools and lawn chairs. I find it odd....

Jo looked half dead! She told me driving is now hard for her. I look back and I can see that now! I plan on going there every few days as I believe she might be too week to drive or scared to drive??? I think Randy is getting her to eat at least one meal a day… not great for a diabetic. She also said she has had a lot of diarrhea… but no blood for over a week. Her belly is bloated from ascites.

I talked to her about maybe going somewhere to get help… she refused to talk about it any farther because she has no insurance. I am trying to get her to sign up for a disability to get insurance. She told me the reason she made me OPA is to keep her from ever getting admitted for drinking, illness or mental illness. and well I will try as hard as I can to follow her wishes.

Timeline info… I found out she had cirrhosis 5 years ago
4 years ago she had small issue with spitting blood in small amounts and bleeding varices.
2 years ago in June she was admitted to hospital for super low hemoglobin. and varices that bleed a bit
last September she was admitted to hospital for the same issues.
She seems like she never fully recovered from the hospital stay.
Dec to today she has been sleeping most of the day and can hardly make it to my house but once or so a month. so for 5 months she has not been able to really function well. so I see a decline in her heath. She is taking iron pills now so that is huge! as she does not take her insulin or any other med. Iron make make for black poo so I plan on keeping a better eye on her!

I feel guilty that I thought she was just on a drunken binge is why she was not doing anything… which is partly true as she is still heavy drinking but I think depression and her health might be keeping her down more. I will be a better bestie!

What bothers me is our doctor told me he thought she only had 6 months to live… that was 6 months on April 1st. She tells me she is going to last for me as we still have trips to go on!

I feel pretty depressed right now as I know I am losing my best friend! Decompensated Cirrhosis usually only have 2 years as an average… Docs always put her more on the low end as she would never quit drinking.... I did have her quit for a year a few years back! I do not see that happening now. If she only has a few months to live or even a year does she really want to be in withdrawal the whole time? If she thought it would save her life she might but… it has not been that way yet. Some people say that at her level of an echoic it is very dangerous to quit without help! not really sure why that is?

Unsure how much worse she will feel… wondering if she gets worse if I will be able to take care of her here. She does not want to live in a hospital :(

Last updated April 29, 2024