What a longggggg strange trip it's been! We finally thought we had Lorne's situation worked out and we thought he'd start feeling better immediately, but NO. It was wishful thinking as Thursday night was miserable. I mean MISERABLE! He was in severe pain with nausea all night long. There is no sleeping for the patient or the caregiver under that stress. It took a while but after several pow wows with all the doctors, we figured it out. He was having a reaction to the antibiotic Flagyl. Apparently this antibiotic is particularly nasty on the gut and so he needed an anti-nausea medication so they gave him something called Ranisen. Ranisen did not work for Lorne. Once they figured that out and switched him to Zofran to manage the nausea, which is what we use at home during chemo, he was much much better, or muy buena, as they say around here. But then he got sick AGAIN. And when I say sick I mean really really sick. So then Lorne, in a moment of utter brilliance, came up with the idea to slow down the drip rate on the Flagyl, since that was the underlying problem, and pre-dose him with the Zofran 10-15 minutes before beginning the Flagyl drip, so the anti-nausea meds are "on board" prior to the infusion of anti-biotics. That combination was the answer. We started that program on Friday, exactly one week after the surgery! By late Friday afternoon he had color in his face, he could sit up in his bed, and we could understand what he was saying. It was like night and day. He hadn't been seen around the hospital in a week because he was bed ridden and all the doctors and nurses would come to our room to see him. And they came ALOT. I mean all the time. I would try to take a shower in the mornings and it was just impossible because there was never a break long enough with the constant flow of people coming into our room. I'm not complaining because their pro-active approach is very reassuring. But it was frustrating to have people in and out of your room 20 - 30 times by 10 am. Not to mention all night long, constantly, in and out, in and out. We couldn't lock our door because we'd just have to get up every 5 - 10 minutes. But he needed that level of care so I am as thankful as I was frustrated. They have an interesting communication system here where you push your call button and a speaker built into to the ceiling lights up and someone says "yes?" And then speak to the ceiling. It felt a little over-lordish sometimes. Looking up at the ceiling and stating your desired outcome. It's pretty funny, but it was quite efficient! We would usually have a nurse in our room within 2 -5 minutes of pressing the button! If only all my desired outcomes could be addressed that quickly! So after we figured out what needed to happen, it was all uphill from there! Lorne had a chat with the main nurse, Eddie, who is absolutely awesome, and Eddie got all the other nurses dialed in on the plan, and there were no problems since then. Lorne even went to dinner last night in the dining hall and when he walked through the doors everyone started clapping!! Some of the ladies were even crying! It was awesome. He hadn't showered
I'm sorry I didn't post anything The last couple of days. By the time the days were over I was just too tired to do anything but TRY to go to sleep, which never happened. Didn't happen the night before either. Or the night before. So now I'm on a shoestring of a nerve.
Lorne has been incredibly sick since the surgery, so much so that he could not get out of bed. The first couple of days we chalked it up to the sedation and the fact that the surgery ended up being so much more extensive than planned. But as the days wore on it became apparent that it was more than that. And today we think they have figured it out. One of the antibiotics they were giving him post-surgery causes major nausea as a side effect. He has been receiving an anti-nausea medication but it apparently does not work on him. So they switched to Zofran, which is what he has always taken to control his nausea during chemo cycles, and within 15 - 20 minutes he was up and walking! The problem though is that because he hasn't been up and walking enough since the surgery, his body is still trying to get rid of all the fluids that have been pooling up while he was lying down. He was just too nauseous to get up and do the walking they wanted him to do. I am getting him some scrambled eggs for dinner tonight which will be the first solid food he has had since last Thursday, prior to the surgery. He has no fever, his bloodwork is good, and his vitals are perfect so there is no sign of any infection, and if we can just keep the nausea under control he can do the work to get back to normal as soon as possible. He misses work but to be honest, these last few days, I doubt it's crossed his mind, he's just been so out of it. After he got the dose of Zofran, he was making little jokes and had a light in his eyes again. It was really quite amazing. It was like night and day in a span of a few minutes. So now they have him on a Zofran regimen to keep it under control. He says he can manage the pain ok, but the combination of pain and nausea is just too much. Wow. Rough night. A nurse came in around 9 pm to assist him back into bed. When she left our room, Lorne told me that his hand was really hurting where his IV line was. Within maybe 5 minutes it had become excruciating. This is the same place he'd been having IV's for the last 2 weeks with no issues at all. Well, to make a long story long, we had nurses and doctors in here for the next 2 or 3 hours trying to figure out what to do. They stuck him 5 or 6 times but could not get a vein. Then one of the nurses said that the main vein they'd been trying to hit had "broken". Meaning it was no longer a viable vein. They ended up accessing his port which a lot of people due from the get go anyway upon arrival, but Lorne hates having his port accessed and has been avoiding any discussion to do so. It's just a very uncomfortable thing and nobody with a port likes leaving them accessed for any length of time. But he was dehydrating and they couldn't give him pain meds and antibiotics without some line of access, so it came down to either accessing his port, and putting in a clavical catheter or "pic line". At least accessing the port didn't create another point of entry that didn't already exist so he went with that option.
It all turned out fine but the process of having someone sticking you over and over again when you are already in severe pain and trying not to toss your cookies is seriously un-fun! Not that we are here for fun, but we still want to avoid the majorly un-fun stuff if we can. So the night was long and not very restful. You can't really sleep in here because every morning between 6:00 and 6:30 a lady with a mop bucket on wheels goes down the main hallway that all our rooms are off of and I swear it sounds like a jet plane is flying down the hall. I don't have a clue why it is so loud and I'm convinced they due it to wake our buts up early under the guise of sanitation! Well, they aren't fooling me! I managed to get Lorne up and waling around today a little bit. He can't go very far or stay upright for more than 20 minutes or so, but Dr. Contreras has made it perfectly clear that walking is key! I already knew that but Lorne was not really on board with that plan until today. It takes a bit of logistical planning to get him up to walk. Between the IV's, trying to feed him and working it all in around his pain management schedule so that his walks are during his most pain-free times. I went on an outing today looking for a certain kind of pillow for Lorne to sit on. Simone and I went to the Farmacia and to WalMart. Then we went to Starbucks. Then I went back to WalMart with Loretta for some sundries. I didn't get to the gym but I sure got in a heck of a lot of walking. And by "walking" I mean running when it comes to crossing the streets. You need to be able to get the lead out around here, the driving is pretty nuts. |
AuthorSean is Lorne's wife. She is the mother of one lovely daughter, Kayla, and an all around kick ass person. Archives
April 2015
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