Entering Day 2

Posted by Eric for Sheri:

So much has happened today I don't know where to start; I guess I will start with the morning.

The morning started as all mornings do with the sun shining and birds singing . . .nope I lied, this morning was roughly 15 degrees and snow was starting to come down. The hospital was relatively slow hanging around for the ostomy nurse. Wouldn't you know it but as soon as I left the room to get a bite to eat (I was frickin famished) she stopped in. She had one other stop, so aobut 45 minutes later we finally met with the ostomy nurse who changed the wafer and showed us how to clean and prepare as well as what to look for and what to expect. Baseline pain meds were upped due to overall pain levels. Itching started from the morphine, but Sheri was less than perturbed so dismissed the Benadryl offer.

The afternoon was not sunny either but rather slick roads and accumulating snow. The hospital time started well with a visit from Reese and Eli, both of which had a great time watching the workers outside working on the new 8 story addition. Eli commented that it was a man -lift and not a party-lift and Reese concurred that the 8 workers standing around the man-lift would not all fit. They took leave of Mom with a trip to the cafeteria and picked up some treats then left after signing mom's leg pressure cuffs and commenting on all of the really neat sites in the hospital room. They also left some really great jumbo flowers that are now hanging in the room thanks to Auntie Sarah and even the nurses comment on how good the room smells with the infuser that Auntie Amanda brought in. No trip to the hospital is complete without Eli giving a good tug on the string hanging out of the wall in the bathroom. Lesson learned, when I give a speach about not touching the strings on the wall, BOTH kids need to be in attendance, not just Reese.

The afternoon did not end with high temps and melting snow, but rather slid downhill. Problems like itchy skin and nausea both possibly due to increased med levels were present all day, however now hemoglobin and blood pressure were low. Reducing meds as well as a bolus (large push of iv fluids) helped the itching, nausea, and dehydration issues (ironically vomiting also helped the nausea) and ultimately pushed Sheri to sleep. I think more than one of the meds given late in the day had sleepiness as a side-effect so they no doubt helped as well. The nurse just stopped in for the 8 hour Toradol injection and Sheri did not even twitch. No blood was given later in the day so hemoglobin must not have dropped any further.

Really good news of the day is that all this activity with the chemo port has broken loose the fibrin "gate" that was allowing injections to flow in but not allowing any blood to come out. Being able to pull blood out of the port saves Sheri from having to be poked with a needle at all during her stay in the hospital; 'stabbing with needles' is one of her least favorite games, drinking or not (unless done by a qualified and licensed tattoo artist, of course).