If I Don't Post Now, I'll Miss My Window
Weekend update:
DH went into the hospital for surgery at noonish on Friday. Surgery at 2:30, surgeon consult afterward at 5:00. He was pleased, thinks he removed everything, pathology needs to confirm. If the report is clean, no radiation needed (YAY). 7:30 he's up in his room, and going on toward 12 I finally went home. I'll keep all the TMI details to myself, but sheesh, hospitals are really not designed for preserving dignity. Thank goodness for private rooms with doors.
Saturday morning - took the girl, her maid of honor/best friend/foster sister, and a friend of mine to the Bridal Show. It was our first. Fun and interesting for me, fashion show was a little "meh" except for the end when one of the male models leapt off the stage to propose to his girlfriend. He was in a tux with a red waistcoat, she was in jeans and a t-shirt. I bet she's mad at him now that she's over the shock. Then we went for a sushi lunch. Yum.
Saturday afternoon headed to hospital again, and stayed til 11ish. DH had a weird reaction to the hypertension med, that none of the staff deemed was a reaction. He refused to take it after that. He doesn't normally have high blood pressure. Doesn't it seem reasonable that coming into the hospital for surgery, not eating since Thursday night, being poked and prodded and cut on, not knowing if the cancer is completely gone would all cause enough stress to raise his bp a bit? It would go right back down every time he got a decent amount of sleep or a dose of his anti-anxiety med. No food (feeding tube) for him on Sat even though they started talking about it at 9 in the morning. He's lactose intolerant. They kept wanting to give him Ensure, which he's had reaction to in the past. We'd been warning them about this issue (hospital only stocks Ensure) since the original surgical consult. Did they do anything to prep for it? NO.
Sunday: back to the hospital at 10 for another 12-hr day. Found out that the last pain med he'd requested was on Sat morning. Weird. Since the bone marrow transplant, he's been extremely pain-intolerant. Downright wimpy. So if he says he's not having pain, he's really not having pain. Everyone was very surprised because this is supposed to be a really difficult operation to recover from (for adults). This morning we can see why. He's finally able to open his mouth wide enough to look in there. Looks like something the size of a tennis ball was removed! Anyway, two more consults with the nutritionist finally produced one can of lactose-free protein drink for the feeding tube. It went fine. Then an observant night nurse came up with a cooled cup of coffee to dissolve his daily meds in, and administered that through the tube. Goodbye, headache!
Monday: Took the girl to work, retrieved my laptop from the office - I have to reload a bunch of stuff to get it back to where I like it, lunch, and back to hospital at 12. Where they informed me we could leave "in about an hour." Wow! Way to go on the healing, DH! Except at 4:00 the pharmacy still hadn't figured out how to fill the special liquid version of his immunosuppressant. So we came home and he skipped a dose. He's actually mostly taking care of himself, just asking for minimal support ("can you hand me that blanket?" etc). It's the most independent he's ever been after a hospital stay, so I'm encouraged. I finally went to bed at a reasonable time.
Today - gotta take the girl to work in a few - we still don't know when she'll get her car back from the shop.
DH went into the hospital for surgery at noonish on Friday. Surgery at 2:30, surgeon consult afterward at 5:00. He was pleased, thinks he removed everything, pathology needs to confirm. If the report is clean, no radiation needed (YAY). 7:30 he's up in his room, and going on toward 12 I finally went home. I'll keep all the TMI details to myself, but sheesh, hospitals are really not designed for preserving dignity. Thank goodness for private rooms with doors.
Saturday morning - took the girl, her maid of honor/best friend/foster sister, and a friend of mine to the Bridal Show. It was our first. Fun and interesting for me, fashion show was a little "meh" except for the end when one of the male models leapt off the stage to propose to his girlfriend. He was in a tux with a red waistcoat, she was in jeans and a t-shirt. I bet she's mad at him now that she's over the shock. Then we went for a sushi lunch. Yum.
Saturday afternoon headed to hospital again, and stayed til 11ish. DH had a weird reaction to the hypertension med, that none of the staff deemed was a reaction. He refused to take it after that. He doesn't normally have high blood pressure. Doesn't it seem reasonable that coming into the hospital for surgery, not eating since Thursday night, being poked and prodded and cut on, not knowing if the cancer is completely gone would all cause enough stress to raise his bp a bit? It would go right back down every time he got a decent amount of sleep or a dose of his anti-anxiety med. No food (feeding tube) for him on Sat even though they started talking about it at 9 in the morning. He's lactose intolerant. They kept wanting to give him Ensure, which he's had reaction to in the past. We'd been warning them about this issue (hospital only stocks Ensure) since the original surgical consult. Did they do anything to prep for it? NO.
Sunday: back to the hospital at 10 for another 12-hr day. Found out that the last pain med he'd requested was on Sat morning. Weird. Since the bone marrow transplant, he's been extremely pain-intolerant. Downright wimpy. So if he says he's not having pain, he's really not having pain. Everyone was very surprised because this is supposed to be a really difficult operation to recover from (for adults). This morning we can see why. He's finally able to open his mouth wide enough to look in there. Looks like something the size of a tennis ball was removed! Anyway, two more consults with the nutritionist finally produced one can of lactose-free protein drink for the feeding tube. It went fine. Then an observant night nurse came up with a cooled cup of coffee to dissolve his daily meds in, and administered that through the tube. Goodbye, headache!
Monday: Took the girl to work, retrieved my laptop from the office - I have to reload a bunch of stuff to get it back to where I like it, lunch, and back to hospital at 12. Where they informed me we could leave "in about an hour." Wow! Way to go on the healing, DH! Except at 4:00 the pharmacy still hadn't figured out how to fill the special liquid version of his immunosuppressant. So we came home and he skipped a dose. He's actually mostly taking care of himself, just asking for minimal support ("can you hand me that blanket?" etc). It's the most independent he's ever been after a hospital stay, so I'm encouraged. I finally went to bed at a reasonable time.
Today - gotta take the girl to work in a few - we still don't know when she'll get her car back from the shop.