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Today was a repeat of yesterday to
some degree. Starting at 4AM and using
the bathroom a record 31 times in 17 hours.
While I was grateful that I did not have to go in to work today, it has
been a workout for me as well as George today as every time he goes in, I have
to go in and help clean him up. To say
this was exhausting would be putting it mildly.
Especially in the early morning when each time I decided that I might
lay my head back down it was time pop up yet again – so I gave up on that
idea. A test for CDIF is being done and
we are praying for that to be negative.
Not to be too graphic but needing to be open about this whole process we
are going through, there is some solidification occurring these past few times
which I believe to be a good thing.
To think that I had plans of
things to do while I sat here in the hospital – crochet, read a book, etc. Not getting any of that done at all because of
the constant interruptions throughout the day and into the evening.
We did make a list of questions to
ask the doctor when he came in. We are
concerned about the constant diarrhea and the peaks of nausea. We are concerned about being able to stomach
the nutritional supplements so he is not getting enough calories in the day
because he is still not eating much. He
has not vomited today so that is a good thing but he is very gassy. I expect that some of that is from not eating
but cannot convince him to eat anything.
Nothing has any flavor to him right now and coupled with the fact he has
no appetite is not helping at all.
The doctor was not totally
concerned about the bathroom trips. He
wants George to eat and get the nausea under control before he tries
anti-diarrheal medication. Gotta get the
input under control before dealing with the output. His potassium levels were okay this
morning. He just got a PICC line that
they can use to do IV pushes of potassium and also blood draws so they can stop
poking the same place in the same arm.
That will be helpful.
The doctor was aware that George’s
bottom is quite raw. I inquired about
getting a sitz bath. (When I told George
I was going to inquire about a sitz bath he said, “I don’t think I can get in a
bath tub.” He did not know what it
was.) He has come to appreciate that I
thought of this wonderful thing as he is enjoying the benefits of it. How do you spell relief? S-I-T-Z!
George took time for two pacing
walks around the room (safer that way because the bathroom is close) and one
long walk down the hallway with the physical therapist. With the exception of a short part of the
long walk, all of it was done without the walker. He also walked to and from the bathroom no
less than 27 times in a 15 hour period without using a walker as well. That’s a lot of walking.
And, though George awoke with some
nausea and has received a few shots for it, aside from three dry heaves earlier
in the day he has managed to keep everything in. He ate a little bit of
scrambled egg and a couple bites of English muffin this morning. He ate some ice cream at lunch time. He gagged down ½ of an ensure this afternoon
(after a LOT of horrible coaxing from me) and he ate a little tiny bit of
chicken for dinner, a few bites of sticky rice, some mandarin oranges and two
ice creams for dinner. While that was
not a lot of food, it was way more than yesterday AND it has made it through
the upper part of the digestive track. I warned George that his bathroom trips
or gas may increase and get worse before it gets better because there is a lot
of air in his system. He may experience
pain at first but that is because all of his inside works are trying to figure
out how to work together now.
The doctor told him today that he
is making good progress considering the amount of surgery that was done. Part of the “outtake” issue is due to the
fact that he has only 1/3 of his colon left and the colon is responsible for
most of the liquid absorption in the intestinal tract. It has to learn to work a little harder.
He said that he won’t send George
home until he is more stabilized with intake of food, nausea under control and
bowels more in control and less frequent.
Underlying and unspoken was an actual return to home prediction.
When we talked about the lack of
nutrition he said he would send in the nutritionist/dietician to talk about
ideas. She wasn’t very helpful in coming
to a solution for what types of food might be best for him. The only suggestion she had since he likes
sweet and cold is to go to Jamba Juice and get a smoothie and have them add
whey protein to the drink. I asked her
if she knew if there was one close by and she had no idea because she “is not
from around here”. Seriously?? That’s the only thing you can offer and you
have no idea where one is located close to the hospital?? That is beyond annoying to me and put me over
the edge for today.
The other changes that were made
today was that the doctor finally changed the order of the milky ensure to
ensure clear which George WILL drink.
And, with the addition of the PICC line he will get the central line in
his neck removed tonight after nearly 10 days.
(They haven’t had anything connected to it since the middle of the
night.)
I feel like I should get
reimbursed for doing so much of the care for George. There are three people overseeing him on each
shift (RN, CNA and charge nurse) and we hardly see them. When they are in the room their phones are
constantly ringing for them to care for another patient. I asked the nurse how many patients are under
her and she only mentioned three. And
those three are in different parts of the floor (would it not be easier to give
them three consecutive rooms rather than one on each end of the hall and the
third clear across the other side of the ward)? Most of the staff are very kind
but are stretched beyond belief. If I
were not here George would probably sit on the commode for at least 20 or 30
minutes each time he went (rather than having at least a 20 minute break
between trips). If I were not here the
motivation to order meals would be less and his GP bags would not be emptied
often enough. I have changed his bed,
replaced his chux, changed his gown, helped him in and out of bed as needed
(needs less help now but for a while was quite a bit). Not sure how much we are charged for this but
I think I need a discount here!
As I helped George get cleaned up
(yet again) I noticed his feet are severely swollen [edema]. Since we cannot lay him flat at all in order
to properly elevate his feet we are hard pressed to get that to come down on
its’ own.
This has been a LONG day of
endless trips to the bathroom and so far the end is not in sight. Considering I started writing today’s blog at
about 5PM and it is not 8:30 [make that 9PM] [make that 9:30PM], that is how
often I have been interrupted to tend to George in some capacity.
That being said – I will end here
because I need to get ready for bed - - and we will see if there is any rest
tonight. [Yesterday he did finally stop
for the night time hours – let’s hope he can repeat that part of it.]
P.S. I would spell relief… S-L-E-E-P!
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