1. When in pain, take stronger drugs.
2. Have more than a rectal thermometer at home.
3. On a regular basis, ask a chemo patient to give you a pain benchmark.
Mom spent Sunday evening at the hospital. The good news is that the severe abdominal pain that caused us to take her to the ER last night is not unusual for a chemo patient her age in the treatment stage she is in. The bad news is that we might have been able to help her arrest the pain earlier if we had been more proactive with her meds.
She mentioned Sunday morning that she had woken up in the wee hours with pain, but it subsided enough for her to eat a pretty big brunch so Big E and I left to run errands in town and work out. By the time we arrived home in the early evening, mom was clearly in a whole lot of pain so we called cousin R and the advice nurse and took her in to the ER.
Of course, once you're in the process, you're a guinea pig. Mom got tested for everything under the sun and TKO drew enough blood to feed an army of vampires. She got some good pain medication but she could never fall into a restful sleep because someone new kept waking her up to do something, usually invasive.
She ended up having to answer the same questions 4 times, including when she was admitted into the hospital wing, where the nurses insisted on weighing her at 2:30 in the morning. Why can't all of that checkbox stuff go into a computer, once, at intake? Really stupid and inefficient. Sorry cousin R.
Another lesson learned -- don't get admitted into a hospital if you value the healing powers of sleep. They do not let you sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. They constantly wake you to palp you, ask your name and birthdate, take your blood pressure, take your temperature, deliver "food," talk to you in a weird voice as if you're a slightly less intelligent version of yourself. Maybe you are...because of SLEEP DEPRIVATION. Not to mention all the drugs.
Big E and I stayed with mom throughout the night in her "isolation" room and would have frozen to death if we hadn't pushed ourselves to stay awake. Yet another lesson learned, cold is the enemy of germs, and also family members who are staying with patients. Even the nurse said it was like a refrigerator.
Big E and I were like 2 unfortunates caught in a snow storm, stuggling to stay awake so we would not succumb to the deathly cold of mom's room. Fortunately she was wrapped in blankets. We should have crowded onto her bed to keep warm. Later, Big E remarked that the sub-zero temperature left her feeling very well-preserved and I must say she looked fresh on 1 hour of sleep. I do not recommend trying this at home.
For now, all is well. For we also learned that all the tests and scans are good. In fact, the abdominal lymph nodes are actually a bit smaller than before chemo. The internist who saw mom this morning said the pain could be from the chemo fighting it out with the cheneys. Go toxic chemicals!
Next time, we will remember that mom has stronger meds if her pain worsens and we'll try that first. She still would have been admitted because of the slight fever, but maybe she could have been spared much of the pain.
Mom will stay in her freezer for another couple of days while TKO monitors her temperature and makes sure they squelch any incipient infections. I would dearly like to get her back to her sick room. More bugs, but less germs.
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