Archives for November 2008
Thanksgiving
Published on 30 Nov 2008 at 3:32 am.
6 Comments.
406 views.
It’s been a pretty decent Thanksgiving. It was great in that we spent time with some of my family that we haven’t seen in a long time. We also participated (much more so than anticipated) in a once-in-a-lifetime, over-the-top Bangladeshi wedding celebration/reception. The holidays were not so great in that the battle keeping food down [...]
Titrate to Comfort
Published on 26 Nov 2008 at 1:11 am.
19 Comments.
601 views.
Titrate to Comfort - it’s likely you’ve never heard those words before. What they mean, semantically, is “raise the dose of pain meds until the patient is comfortable.” Makes perfect sense. Just what you’d want, right? However, what it means emotionally is much more difficult to accept. Titrate to comfort. Those are the standing orders [...]
Headed Home Soon
Published on 21 Nov 2008 at 3:30 pm.
8 Comments.
504 views.
We are finished with the 3-Ringed circus here at MD Anderson and are headed home soon, baring some unforeseen anarchy. We had a colonoscopy scheduled for this morning at 10AM which was pushed back to 12PM then moved forward to 11-something-er-other. It was subsequently canceled on the table due to lack of prep. All the [...]
Waiting…
Published on 20 Nov 2008 at 3:25 pm.
16 Comments.
436 views.
Yesterday we acquired a new symptom we’d never had to play with before - diarrhea. Further complicating the particularly unpleasant situation was MD Anderson’s processes and procedures that A) created more than a two hour delay between the onset and treatment, and B) required us to save the, uhm, “output” in a small tub for [...]
Doing Fine
Published on 19 Nov 2008 at 12:32 am.
11 Comments.
439 views.
It’s been a long day and we aren’t done yet. It started ridiculously early after an ok night of ups and downs. They took blood, put in the catheter, and started new drugs. Finally, at around 6:45AM they took us down to put in the line to our liver. By noon we were back in [...]
Checked In
Published on 18 Nov 2008 at 12:00 am.
12 Comments.
375 views.
We’ve checked in and started the onslaught of fluids. We spent the day with doctor’s meetings, consultations, blood tests, and walking. LOTS of walking. No surprises other than when (tomorrow morning) and how long (done on Saturday.)
To the Wizards
Published on 16 Nov 2008 at 4:14 pm.
10 Comments.
412 views.
Friday evening was great. Maggie was in great spirits, in no pain and chattier than I’ve seen her in weeks. It was fantastic to have my sweetie back. Mom Mary brought us a steak and potatoes supper and my mom, Nickie, drove in to visit. We had a great time. It was almost like old [...]
Headed Home
Published on 14 Nov 2008 at 5:51 pm.
5 Comments.
371 views.
We are headed home soon. The pain is fairly under control finally, although it’s far from gone. Dr. Loukas arranged to have us take a to-go pain pump with plenty of pain-killer for the trip to and from Houston. We are hanging out up here at the hospital just long enough to make sure the [...]
Lightening Strikes
Published on 14 Nov 2008 at 10:23 am.
5 Comments.
402 views.
We’ve been struggling for weeks now to get this ever-increasing pain under control and been unsuccessful. Yesterday morning, lightening struck again. While I was at HEB filling a new prescription for fentanyl patches, Maggie called and said “I’m in the garage and need to go to the emergency room.” Yikes.
Back in Austin
Published on 11 Nov 2008 at 4:06 pm.
11 Comments.
519 views.
We just got back from Houston and are glad to be home. Maggie had CT scans early this morning to wrap up our visit at MD Anderson. We return for our 8AM appointment on the 17th for the first part of our trial.