We are Back, but not so far back! Nights are terrible!

Two of Joyce's' comments today!

And what a day it was.

Joyce has had 7 different roommates in 8 days. The private rooms are reserved for the infectious and hospice patients. The hospital, or for sure 4East, is full. Each time a new patient checks in it is chaos! And that goes into the night, which means very little sleep. Each time a patient checks out there is chaos with the family and the clean-up crew. This can happen at any time.

Today Joyce had juice for breakfast and vomited again. She had a little juice for lunch and vomited. She had hiccups and vomited. She was able to sleep (pass out?) a couple of hours, but we did very little walking because she was dizzy, and tired. In the afternoon the doctor decided she probably had a partial blockage and ordered a C-T Scan. Sure enough!

So tonight she got a Nasal-Gastric (NG) tube through her nose into her stomach to drain it out. Shortly 250 ml of fluid were in the bottle. It was not much fun to get the tube inserted, but after it had been draining for a while, she started feeling much better!

We think we are on the way again!!

She has to be almost sitting up when she has the tube in, so that is how she is sleeping. They did put a sedative in the IV, so she may sleep tonight (also her new roommate had her last visitors leaving before 9:30). The doctor said the tube may have to be in for 2 to 4 days, so I think we will be spending the weekend in our hospital retreat.

Joyce is very fortunate to have an assertive personal Dietitian. She worked with the hospital dietician to get a Total Parental Nutrient IV started along with the saline solution so she will be getting nutrients back into her body. To me that means a quicker recovery!!

The other thing I have mentioned before, is the absence of pain. I think the hospital staff can hardly believe it. It makes it incredibly easier to talk together and communicate wit the medical people. Thanks to Healing Touch!

Doug

PS: Thank you for your comments, either on this blog or her email. We look forward to reading them together every day!