Nights

Every evening when I leave Joyce, I think, maybe this night she will get the rest she needs and deserves!

Every morning turns out to be like this morning. I get there by 6:30 and she is sitting up with her eyes open, (I hesitate to say she is awake), and tired as the devil!

I wonder if anyone who is not drugged can sleep in a hospital bed.

So today she did spend time dozing. I helped with that, whenever I started talking, she fell asleep, how good am I.

Her pulse rate has been high today and blood sugar also, so she got a dose of insulin today. She has a difficult time calming down, partly because her hiccups come every so often and bring the thought that she may vomit. The NG tube is doing the job, and is not as painful as the last one.

She seemed better to me at the end of the day than in the morning, probably because she got some rest.
Tonight she will be getting 1 or 2 doses of a drug that helps with anxiety and sleep.

We asked the doctor today if we are dealing with a lazy intestine, or a partial blockage. She said it is probably a partial blockage. She had not seen the last C-T Scan images so she did not have any new information. She will be talking to us tomorrow.

I think I said in a previous blog that the hope was that the chemo would get things going, and the oncologist thought that could take two treatments. We are unclear on the status of that at this time.

I am looking forward to tomorrow morning and having Joyce feeling rested up, and ready to resume some of our walking!
Doug

Friday, August 14, 2009 2:00 am, Methodist Hospital, ER

Yes we are back again!
All day Thursday Joyce struggled with vomiting and a queasy stomach with a little pain. We talked to the home Nurses and they tried to contact some of the Doctors, with little response. We got the set-up of the TPN done an Joyce went to bed, but every so often she would vomit. Then she had a big one and we headed for the ER. We got there at 2 am and were in a room next to our other room by 4:00 am. We found out her white cell(?) blood count was less than one, so we got a private room.

We both dozed fitfully until about 7:230 when the put in another ( #4 ) NG tube. She immediately felt better and stopped vomiting and the pain almost went away! Through the day she got more liquid out than she had before, and it was still coming when I left about 9:30.

She needs to build herself back up with hydration, sleep, TPN, anti nausea IV, GERD IV, and more sleep! The doctors feel this is the only way to go right now and hope that it finally starts to work. This is basically what the plan was when we went home, so we really are restarting that.

I have to say we were happy to get home and do a few "normal" things, but it did not feel right to either of us. It just was not working right. So when we finally got a room in the Hospital, we both felt relieved!

If you come to visit please keep it short. Remember she is in an infectious room. If you have a cold, or are not feeling well please send a card or email or blog note. And flowers are not allowed in the room.

So, what can we do except keep blogging along, and keep you right with us!!

Doug

Welcome to the Battcher-Malchow Medical Clinic!

It's not too bad now that we are somewhat oranized, but the amount of stuff they bring us for doing the IV is mind-boggling. Plus, we decided we needed a hospital bed, it's much better for Joyce to have her head elevated. But even more crazy is all the stuff that gets used up each day.

Joyce has been very tired again today. Happy to be home, but just pooped out!
Yes, a little movement down there, but no celebration.

A little story. We were suppose to get a nausea medication that dissolved in the mouth, so she wouldn't have to take it with water. We did not get it at check out, so we asked our health care nurse to get it for us. She did her best, but could not get a prescription from the doctor. Joyce was on the phone with the Nurses organization and got promises but no results. About 5:20, as a last resort, I went to Walgreen's and got the right person, she made two phone calls and had the doctor paged, and 2 hours we had our medicine! Fantastic.

We are getting settled in with a different routine than before, and that we hope changes back pretty soon, so I may not be sending a message every day now.
I am also hoping the "happening" happens soon so JB can start eating and get her strength back so she is able t0 have visitors.

When things happen I will let you know.

We continue to need your wonderful words of wisdom and powerful prayers that keep us going every day!

Doug

Moving Day is never fun!

Well, we are home! And we are tired, tired, tired!

It's 11.10pm and JB is asleep, finally. About 2 hours ago I thought it was midnight, so you can imagine how it felt for her. Saying goodbye to people who have cared for you is not so easy. but it is easy to get in the car and drive away.

we were home before 5 pm, but reorganizing things a bit, checking mail that was not a card or letter, and just trying to relax still took it out of us.
Incidentally Baxter turned into a turtle. Instead of a pole, he is a back pack. I think more manageable than the pole. He just sits beside the bed feeding Joyce and night and in the am we can disconnect and Joyce will e free to move around. The only draw back is that Doug has to learn how to rig it up and take it down. The Home Health Nurse was here from about 6:30 to 8:30, checking us in and giving me my first lesson. A nurse will be coming in the morning and one at night until we and they are comfortable with what I am doing.

So keep working on waking up that bowel!

You are all fantastic!

To bed!
Doug

Moving Day is never fun!

C'Mon Baxter, Move it, Wee have places to go and Things to do!

Yes, we will be going home tomorrow!! Holy Moses!

We had visits from 5 doctors (2 before 8) and one social worker as well as some of 'our nurses' but the only that counts is our doctor saying "you need to get out of here!"

Joyce's tummy still isn't working, so she will have to use "Baxter" to get the nutrition, but our doctor thinks a change of scenery will do the trick. Sixteen days in the hospital is driving us crazy too.

They will program the IV so it will all be together and will be connected for 12 hours at night and then disconnected for the day. Joyce will be FREE!

A home health Nurse will get things set for us. After being in the same room as Baxter for 12 hours a day, I think we learned something Beep Beep.

We haven't gotten the schedule for the next chemo treatment, but will be close to the end of August.

We couldn't stop smiling tonight!
Doug

Is Baxter coming home with us?

Joyce had a very good night, she was still sleeping when I got there, so both of us dozed for a while. She did have somewhat of an upset stomach, but not bad. We had two Doctors visits before 8:30. The oncologist asked how her chemo treatment went, which was very good. The gyn-onc was there to talk about her gut. Unfortunately there was nothing to report except a gurgling stomach.

Joyce also got a shower and then we set our goals for walking, puffing, and belly dancing! By puffing, we mean the "Inhalation Sperometer," the thing that helps clear your lungs so you don't get pneumonia and increase lung capacity. Joyce has taken a class in belly dancing, and knows some of the actions are excellent for the body.

The gyn-onc doctor said maybe we need to go to a different environment to get the guts moving. This could be home, but she can't eat yet, so we would have to take the IV tower with us. The IV tower is made by Baxter! So, this is a possibility that may happen this week, unless other things change, of course!

So we walked and puffed and moved the body and she had a Healing Touch" session, and still now gut activity and still n o t h i n g ! Maybe tomorrow!
Doug