Friday afternoon, Karl had an x-ray done, because his leg has been hurting bad again, and he wanted to make sure everything is where it should be. From there, we went to a physical therapy appointment, which happens to be in the same office as his primary care doctor. So he was getting adjusted and the doctor called to give us the results from the x-ray. Since we were there, he came back to talk to us and give us the printout. According to radiology at the hospital, where the x-rays were taken, there was an opacity in the bone around the rid that was put in, in March, that could suggest an infection clinging to it. So we were sent to the ER to get an IV infusion of antibiotics. That never happened, because the ER doctor decided a second opinion was needed (because the radiologist form today had no idea about the cancer, he was basing his opinion on that lack of information), and he called the radiologist at the other hospital campus and together they compared the new x-rays with the old ones, and the new opacity is consistent with what the cancerous lesions that are already there look like. So the conclusion for the moment is that the cancer has simply spread further into the bone and is just eating through it. Now, to be absolutely sure the doctor ordered a test that we scheduled for Thursday, but it's probably the cancer rather than an infection.  To be honest, the cancer is the prefered problem here. Because infection means having to have the rod taken out, which means his bone will no longer have that support for one thing, and he will be bed ridden for months -- yes, months -- while they "sterilize" it and await the time to put a new rod in. And the first surgery was incredibly painful, and the recovery was hell.  Karl hasn't had chemo since January 10th and the decision at this time is that he's not getting it again. It's not something he can handle physically or emotionally, and I'm not sure me or the kids could, either. We're going to get set up on hospice this week and go from there. Focus on comfort and quality, because right now his quality of life is shit and all of the focus is on the amount of pain he's in; there isn't a moment anymore where he's not in pain.

 This is what I posted on facebook, but since then there have been more updates. Hospice is probably not going to happen because since we enrolled Karl on the long term care system, the two services are redundant and hospice is rarely approved. This doesn't mean much difference; he's still getting the same kind of end-of-life care.

 He wheezes almost all the time now, on or off oxygen, awake or not. He isn't awake all that much and he get disoriented easily. The other night, he was asking me if I'd caught "those snakes." and I was like, what snakes? and he said, "The ones that are overrunning the house!" /boggle