The “C” Word – Day 90 Highs and Lows

The past 48 hours has been a time of highs and lows for us.  The Ambien gave George restful sleep without “hangover” side effects. The steroids gave him more energy and a willingness to try to eat.

And then the world crashed down again.

The oncologist on-call doctor saw George’s test results from Tuesday and was very concerned about extremely elevated WBC and platelet counts.  He suggested that we go to the ER and have further testing done to determine if there was clotting or infection going on.  So, after work I packed up George and away we went.

After a chest x-ray determined that there was some fluid on the lungs but not enough to cause such shortness of breath a CT scan was ordered.  This showed no clotting but the lower abdominal area showed several areas of possible abscess.  He needed to be admitted for the night and they would determine if surgery would be required or drainage. 

My “boss”/co-worker brought over some food for me and she spent some time with us saying prayers for George and giving him a great pep talk.  When she left he was feeling a little better.

It was a late night as we kept waiting for the surgeon to come in to finish admission but he never did so the lights went out as 12:15AM after shift change.  The surgeon showed up and let us know what the procedure was and that he had put the request in during the night so hopefully it would happen earlier in the day.  George was in great spirits still this morning and joked with the doctor and some of the staff. 

Then the pulmonary specialist came in and stripped him of that joy by telling him about the processes for the lungs.  He said they did not want to do a thoracentesis as they felt they should first try non-evasive procedures.  They gave him Lasix via IV (he was getting pill form at home) and then ordered up something called IPV treatments.  This is a short treatment (about 5 minutes) that will be done very eight hours and is meant to push air into the lungs with some pulsation in an effort to open up the lung cavity and push the fluids down.  He also order up George’s favorite spirometer to use throughout the day.  He also ordered up some sort of test for the lungs and an echo-cardiogram to check on how the heart is pumping.  All of this left George very down and out because we know how long it takes for stuff to happen around here.

True to form, the special test that needs to be done – well the person who does those came in and said it would be “this afternoon or tomorrow morning”.  What???  She says they needed to work around the schedule for the IR (drain) procedure and that it would be best to do the test after the IR as the abscessed areas might be putting pressure on the lungs as well.

The IR was finally done about 1PM and while he was down getting that done the gal for the echo-cardiogram showed up and I told her was not here right now.  She said she would come back (she never did).  Then they guy shows up with the breathing treatment.  He said he would come back and he did, twice…. Finally catching George at about 4PM.  The IR drainage took two hours!  Apparently they pulled a lot of fluid from two specific areas that were badly infected.  He came back to the room with two icky looking drain ports that will be left in overnight.

By the time George was able to order up real food he was no longer hungry so ate only a small bit.  He was so depressed from the days’ activities and just felt like things were not moving forward as they should.  I tried to boost him up and tell him that we had made some progress but he was not convinced.  He was also hurting from the procedure performed this afternoon.  On top of all that we are not at all sure that going home tomorrow is a possibility.  We have a sneaking suspicion that things will drag out and that he will need either more heavy duty antibiotics or further stuff on his lungs. 

This evening had a bout of nausea and I decided he should try to get a few hours sleep between 8/8:30 and 11-12 when they will be in for another lung treatment and vitals after the change of shift.  Then, hopefully he will get some uninterrupted time until at least 5AM.  (me, too!)

I was pretty tired today too and we both spent time trying to close our eyes and just get some rest or a cat nap in during the morning hours.  I plan on turning in shortly to get some much needed rest myself.  I was able to run home and take a shower this evening so at least I feel clean.

As stated in my earlier blog, it turns out I will not get away this weekend to see the grandkids…. I am glad I said nothing to George because he would have felt really bad about spoiling yet another planned time away.  I actually did not get my hopes up too high… so I am not as disappointed as I once would have been.  Sad to say that this is just the way it has to be for now.  No long-term plans until George is in the clear. 

I am planning on the massage tomorrow, wherever George may be.  If he is still here it is easy enough because it is just across the parking lot.  If we are home, I will just drive back here.  Either way, my back and shoulders are sorely in need of attention.  The bed in this room is not as good as the last one.  It appears to be broken so I cannot pull it out all the way so have to stay curled up most of the time.  Even if I could pull it out, if I did there would not be enough room for the nurses to get to their desk when they need to or to change out the IV stuff, etc.  I will REALLY appreciate the massage tomorrow!