More pain and Germany

My mom took my dad to see the Palliative Care Team at the Froedert Cancer Center this afternoon. He started having pain late this morning. Usually the pain subsides in a short period of time. This time was different. Vicodin (hydrocodone) didn't offer any relief.

He took the Vicodin just before his 12:00 appointment at the barber shop. He was in too much pain to drive himself, so I drove him there. We figured that the pain would follow the usual course. The Vicodin would kick in, and he would be more comfortable soon. However, that didn't happen. He was in a great deal of pain during the whole outing. Tom (the barber) and I struggled at small talk during my dad's haircut, but it was very difficult for us both to see my dad clearly in so much physical pain.

After the barber shop, my dad received a call back from the Palliative Care Team. He and my mom went in to see one of the nurses. She prescribed two additional pain medications: oxycodone and morphine. He is also constipated and was given some Milk of Magnesia. Constipation can be a side effect of Vicodin. It is impossible to know at this point whether the pain is being caused by the cancer tumors or the constipation or a combination of the two.

Just yesterday, my dad was feeling well enough to celebrate Rhys's birthday with my family and I. My dad had taken some Vicodin before he and my mom came over. He and Mark discussed the state of the economy. Also, my parents spent some time studying online maps.

My parents were using Google maps satellite views to try to find the house that we lived in in Germany. For about the first year of my life, my dad stationed in Germany and working at a U.S. Army Base in Zweibrocken. He was drafted during the Vietnam War. My mom, my dad our dog Co-co and I lived in Hornbach. There are five buildings in a row on the west side of Brenschelbacher. (The street name is over the image of the houses. You'll need to uncheck the "labels" box under "satellite" to see the houses on the west side of the street.) The house we lived in is the one with the reddish brown roof in the middle of that group.