Well folks, the days since coming home from the hospice have been good indeed. The reconnection with 'home' has been profound and deeply satisfying. The local Palmerston community nurses have visited every morning around 10.30 to service the Ketamine syringe driver and generally provide support and advice. After the 'hump' of getting home and settled, Sue's pain levels have been vastly improved to the point that she is engaged, talkative and (at times) feisty and provocative! Her desire and capacity to re-engage with knitting, crocheting and sewing is a pretty good indicator of improved sense of well-being.

We met with the Palliative Care team again yesterday and they were a bit gobsmacked about how well Sue is coping - so pleased that they decided it was worth re-assessing the need for Ketamine by disconnecting the syringe pump for 48 hours. We are now at 29 hours 'offline' and it is clear that there is a resultant increase in the pain, but it seems to have settled at a new, and only slightly higher, 'normal'. Sue reports that it is 'bearable' while life is home-based and not too active, but may present challenges when we travel in a couple of weeks if it stays the same. The next question will be whether to (a) try other/adjusted oral medication to bring the pain level down again, (b) put up with it, or (c) go back on the Ketamine. Option C presents some significant practical complications when we are away from home in terms of daily community nurse visits, especially as we will be moving around a bit in Adelaide environs (and possibly Gippsland?!).

Overall though, things are better than we could possibly have imagined 1, 2 or even 3 months ago when there seemed little if any possibility of a final trip 'down south'. It seems that we have been blessed with an unexpected window of opportunity thanks to the expertise of the Palliative Care Team, hospice staff, community nurses and, most significantly, the grace of God.  

We are also looking forward to Tessa arriving in Darwin on Saturday to spend a week in the bosom of her family of origin! We fly out to Adelaide on Friday 1 May. What an exciting few weeks we have in store! Cheers.

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Cheers from 'home' - 22 April 2015