I wrote a new blog post just below this about 5 hours ago giving an update on Peter. Since then I returned to the Hospice with James and also Peters guardian. We sat with Peter for a couple of hours... his breathing was getting worse and more laboured. I was meant to return to the city to pick up visitors, but I sensed that he was rapidly getting worse. He was not in pain but struggling to breathe, We decided to stay and see how he got on, and at 5:05pm he gave his last breathe. Thankfully he was in the company of the 3 of us who really cared for him, who have been his family for so long. We were glad he wasn't in pain, and it is good that it all happened so quickly and he didnt suffer for too long. We are very sad to lose him though and in shock that it did happen so fast. We will miss him so much. Right now there is not much more I can say.
Thank you to all those who have prayed and sacrificed financially for him.
Tuesday, 19 July 2011
LAST STOP BEFORE HOME
Hi to everyone, its been long since my last blog, with a lot going on and too much to say just now, but i hope to do a new update in the next week or so which will tell you all about the adventures of the Rhino charge... The fate of Shaun the Sheep... and updates on work life here in Kenya. But for now I wanted to tell you about how Peter is getting on. The 13 year old boy I look after who has terminal cancer.
Peter has slowly been detriorating over the last few months and before I left for quick trip back to the Uk in the middle of June I had been in discussions with the Nairobi Hospice about the need for eventually moving Peter into a Resdidential Nursing Home/Hospice. We had one lined up that looked good, was great value and run by the catholic church. I headed back to UK for some meetings, and made sure that Peter had all his medication and was looked after while I was away. Peter's condition had been getting worse recently to the point where he didnt leave the house much, his lost sight in his right eye, as the tumour is pushing on the eye and almost forcing it out the socket. He has also got multiple tumours on his head, another pushing on the other eye etc.
When I returned from the UK the following day I was called to the house, Peter was having chest pains and wasn't well. We got the doctor out and changed some medications etc, and thankfully he improved. However it was a sign of what was to come and we had a discussion with his guardian and agreed to move him the to residential hospice sooner rather than later. The guardian and I did a trip up the road during the week to check out the place. There is a lovely irish nun called Sister Eileen who runs it, it has 9 beds, is only a year old and is a fantastic facility. Its quiet which is good in some ways, but I was worried Peter would bee lonely.
Anyways we got it organised and last Tuesday I moved him up there. OI was worried he might feel we were abandoning him, but actually he was quite keen to go, he was experiencing pain all the time and I knew he just wanted to be comfortable. We settled him in, but it was hard leaving him... i was close to tears, it was very tough, especially as I knew this would be the last place he stays before he finally passes away. This poor kid has spent his whole life being moved from one place to another, with no parents, and being looked after by so many different adults. This would be his last home, his last bed...
I came back a couple of days later to pick him up and bring him to the doctor in the city and just to take him out for the day. I looked in his wardrobe and his clothes and everything were still in the suitcase... this i how he has come to learn to live... everytthing he has ever known has been in a box or suitcase, he lives out of that... and he would not think to put things on his shelf... everything is neatly packed and kept in the suitcase... it says a lot.
He seemd to be ok in the hospice even though he was a little bored but his bed in comfortable and he has made friends with another patient. Yesterday I planned to come up and visit... and the sister phoned me before hand to say he was very weak that day, not so strong and weas very tired. I arrived to see him asleep in bed... but he sat up when we came, was talking a bit and ate some food... but he seemed to have changed quite a bit... the sister says almost over night there has been a change. We stayed for a short time, I had to get back to the city, but he was so pleased to see us. The sister kept calling me the rest o fthe day giving me updates and this hinted to me that perhaps his detrioration is serious. He got worse again in the evveing, but was at least eating.
This morning I drove up with the doctor from the city, and I found him propped up in his bed, really struggling to breath, barely able to move, his chest going up and down so fast. He looked so weak and it was shocking to see him in this state, he barely had enough energy to keep is one reasonable eye open and to say more than one word at a time. He has so much pain all over. His stomach is huge, the liver is bigger, his whole body is getting distorted. His head is huge and I will include a picture below taken a few weeks ago... imagine its all a lot bigger than that now. This poor kid is going through hell right now. Even the hospice staff are struggling emotionally with all this, its such a brutal way to go, and if hospice staff are sgtruggling, people who deal with canacer patients all the time it shows how tough this is all for peter.
It incredible how he has changed so much in a few days. I tried to get the docs to predict what woudl happen, but I knew I was asking unreasonable questions because no on really knows. But eventually I got it out of them... once there are respiritory problems thats how it starts for a lot of cancer patients to go. It was finally said, that pretty much now he could go at any time.
I can;t believe it, I came back from the Uk expecting it would be a couple of months before dealin with residential care and even longer before the end would come, and now this might all end in a matter of days, or even hours. Hard to know what to do now in the next few days, but I am organising people to visit him and spend as much time there as possible. That last thing I want is for him to pass away and for one of us that are close to him not be around.
Peter has incredible faith in God. While he was still at his guardians house, he barely left the house, but each evening he walked through the streets, stiumbling along, while people would stare at his disfigurement, he would go to an evening prayer service everyday at 5pm. he trusts in God, and I wouldn;t say I know many certainties in life, but for sure I know God has a place marked out for him in heaven... where there will be no more disfigurement, or pain, where he will be whole again.
There are many more things I could write, but thats all I got for now.... I have to rush back to see him this afternoon, before it gets dark later. I would ask you to pray for Peter.... pray that he won;t be afraid in the coming days, pray that he won't be in pain, pray for the nurses and carers around him.... pray that he will have peace in the remaining days. Its not long now before he will be truely home with his Father in heaven.
Peter has slowly been detriorating over the last few months and before I left for quick trip back to the Uk in the middle of June I had been in discussions with the Nairobi Hospice about the need for eventually moving Peter into a Resdidential Nursing Home/Hospice. We had one lined up that looked good, was great value and run by the catholic church. I headed back to UK for some meetings, and made sure that Peter had all his medication and was looked after while I was away. Peter's condition had been getting worse recently to the point where he didnt leave the house much, his lost sight in his right eye, as the tumour is pushing on the eye and almost forcing it out the socket. He has also got multiple tumours on his head, another pushing on the other eye etc.
When I returned from the UK the following day I was called to the house, Peter was having chest pains and wasn't well. We got the doctor out and changed some medications etc, and thankfully he improved. However it was a sign of what was to come and we had a discussion with his guardian and agreed to move him the to residential hospice sooner rather than later. The guardian and I did a trip up the road during the week to check out the place. There is a lovely irish nun called Sister Eileen who runs it, it has 9 beds, is only a year old and is a fantastic facility. Its quiet which is good in some ways, but I was worried Peter would bee lonely.
Anyways we got it organised and last Tuesday I moved him up there. OI was worried he might feel we were abandoning him, but actually he was quite keen to go, he was experiencing pain all the time and I knew he just wanted to be comfortable. We settled him in, but it was hard leaving him... i was close to tears, it was very tough, especially as I knew this would be the last place he stays before he finally passes away. This poor kid has spent his whole life being moved from one place to another, with no parents, and being looked after by so many different adults. This would be his last home, his last bed...
I came back a couple of days later to pick him up and bring him to the doctor in the city and just to take him out for the day. I looked in his wardrobe and his clothes and everything were still in the suitcase... this i how he has come to learn to live... everytthing he has ever known has been in a box or suitcase, he lives out of that... and he would not think to put things on his shelf... everything is neatly packed and kept in the suitcase... it says a lot.
He seemd to be ok in the hospice even though he was a little bored but his bed in comfortable and he has made friends with another patient. Yesterday I planned to come up and visit... and the sister phoned me before hand to say he was very weak that day, not so strong and weas very tired. I arrived to see him asleep in bed... but he sat up when we came, was talking a bit and ate some food... but he seemed to have changed quite a bit... the sister says almost over night there has been a change. We stayed for a short time, I had to get back to the city, but he was so pleased to see us. The sister kept calling me the rest o fthe day giving me updates and this hinted to me that perhaps his detrioration is serious. He got worse again in the evveing, but was at least eating.
This morning I drove up with the doctor from the city, and I found him propped up in his bed, really struggling to breath, barely able to move, his chest going up and down so fast. He looked so weak and it was shocking to see him in this state, he barely had enough energy to keep is one reasonable eye open and to say more than one word at a time. He has so much pain all over. His stomach is huge, the liver is bigger, his whole body is getting distorted. His head is huge and I will include a picture below taken a few weeks ago... imagine its all a lot bigger than that now. This poor kid is going through hell right now. Even the hospice staff are struggling emotionally with all this, its such a brutal way to go, and if hospice staff are sgtruggling, people who deal with canacer patients all the time it shows how tough this is all for peter.
It incredible how he has changed so much in a few days. I tried to get the docs to predict what woudl happen, but I knew I was asking unreasonable questions because no on really knows. But eventually I got it out of them... once there are respiritory problems thats how it starts for a lot of cancer patients to go. It was finally said, that pretty much now he could go at any time.
I can;t believe it, I came back from the Uk expecting it would be a couple of months before dealin with residential care and even longer before the end would come, and now this might all end in a matter of days, or even hours. Hard to know what to do now in the next few days, but I am organising people to visit him and spend as much time there as possible. That last thing I want is for him to pass away and for one of us that are close to him not be around.
Peter has incredible faith in God. While he was still at his guardians house, he barely left the house, but each evening he walked through the streets, stiumbling along, while people would stare at his disfigurement, he would go to an evening prayer service everyday at 5pm. he trusts in God, and I wouldn;t say I know many certainties in life, but for sure I know God has a place marked out for him in heaven... where there will be no more disfigurement, or pain, where he will be whole again.
There are many more things I could write, but thats all I got for now.... I have to rush back to see him this afternoon, before it gets dark later. I would ask you to pray for Peter.... pray that he won;t be afraid in the coming days, pray that he won't be in pain, pray for the nurses and carers around him.... pray that he will have peace in the remaining days. Its not long now before he will be truely home with his Father in heaven.
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