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I
must say, when I do sleep at night lately, I sleep very well and very
hard. Getting up in the middle of the
night to handle things has been like sleep-walking… just shuffling around to
get things done. My phone alarm shocks
me awake!! Because of the nurses
schedule I had been unable to try to sync even one night of having all meds
happen at once so I didn’t have to get up multiple times - - and was just about
to do that tonight when….
We
went to see Dr. Majumder. He said there
was no need to keep that kind of schedule (exact or close to exact intervals). He said that for the 3 times a day antibiotic
use a 7AM-3PM-11PM time schedule. And,
for the Vancomycin to work 4 times a day in during waking hours and get the
last one done at 11PM as well. Once the
IV is done (about 45 minutes) you will be done for the night and can sleep
until 6-7AM and start all over again. In
other words, it does not have to be precisely at 8 or 6 hour intervals. Yippee!!
I can sleep tonight (unless George needs to get up to use the bathroom
and then I have to unhook the feeding tube).
However, I do not have to fully wake up to do that task.
After
a little discussion and finding that white blood cell count is still good but
C-reactive has risen a little bit, plus the fact that output on the drain is
still significant, he asked George what he wanted to do. We could stop the IV meds and wait and
see. If the infection had not gone away
it would show up in a week or two and we’d have to start up again. If it had gone away, then no worries. George opted for the “be safe rather than
sorry” and said let’s keep up the antibiotics because he doesn’t want to land
back in the hospital for an infection and have to redo PICC lines,etc.
So…
more meds are being ordered up and IV will continue for another full week with
the Vancomycin going one week beyond that.
While it is pretty inconvenient to have tubes and lines everywhere, it
looks as though they are here to stay for the majority of this month.
George
is actually feeling better. He is eating
a little more and moving about easier.
Probably should do an actual “walk” (and not just to the bathroom and
back). Maybe I can convince him to do a
nightly walk so he can gradually increase his stamina and strength. It will help him in more ways than one! Although his appetite is definitely better, it
is still not close to where it should be for nutritional purposes.
We
also contacted Dr. Bastidas to find out if he wanted to see George sooner than
8/23. Explained that the drain is still putting out a lot of fluid (actually
has increased over the past 3 days). My
guess is he will wait but am awaiting a reply from him.
Sara
and the kids stopped by for a visit this morning, and one of George’s co-workers
this evening. Company breaks up the day
a little bit. It is good for both of
us.
Because
I am pretty tired, I have not been able to focus on much these past few
days. With the change in medication
schedule I hope that I can be more organized as the days continue. Tomorrow I have a repairman scheduled to come
look at our leaky refrigerator. Not sure
what the issue is but the problem is still persistent and may be getting
worse. I syphoned off 12 ounces of water
from the bottom floor of the fridge the other day – and when I checked the
lower drawer this afternoon it already has water accumulating at the back side
of it so am certain there is more below that.
Ugh!! Hopefully it is an easy fix
– will find out tomorrow.
At
least for now we have another short term plan, one that should be manageable
and make our lives somewhat easier for the duration of all the procedures that
occur throughout the day. I am hoping
that I can actually get in to work for a few hours a few days a week and look
forward to being out and about for little bits of time. Looking forward to a little bit of “my normal”
back after a very long month!
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