Monday, September 14, 2009

Bad night

Yesterday, they took away Adrienne's propofol. I understand that you can't stay on it too long and they think it's contributing to the liver issues. They replaced it with dilaudid on demand. The problem is that by the time I ask for it, she's frantic. They tried turning down the vent again this am and she "woke up" and was trying to pull the tube out and get out of bed. I don't know if the vent change really was the issue or if it's the sedation. Needless to say, I'll discuss this with the doc and the charge nurse today. Most of the nurses are wonderful, but of course, last night's argued with me about everything. I'll request that she not get him again.

Adrienne's counts are still awful. She got platelets already this am and is getting red cells now. I asked the (pita) night nurse about the white count and he said it was back down after yesterday's little jump but I need to verify that. I'm going to call NY today to find out what the lowest threshold is when we can give chemo again. The fear has always been that if she gets too much chemo, we'll destroy her marrow. She's definitely showing these signs and we can only hope that her counts will recover sooner rather than later.

7 comments:

Annie said...

so sorry to read about the bad night. hopefully that nurse will stay away and hopefully this is just the one step back to go 2 or 3 forward next.
sending love and continuous strength your way!! xo

katmm said...

Ugh - weekends are always worse. I don't know if it's the nurses or different on-calls, but weekends are always worse....

Hope they can figure out better sedation solutions and walk the chemo/marrow recovery tightrope skillfully.

Thinking of you,
Kathy

Kara and Katina said...

Men just are not good nurses. Really. I know she is tired of having that tube down her throat.. see what Dr. O says. You guys are always in our hearts and prayers! We love you!

cathyn said...

I'm sorry to read your latest post, I hope things start to get better :)

You know I really feel for patients who are in hospitals and aren't able to have family by their side advocating for them. Imagine if you weren't able to be with Adrienne?

Thinking and praying for you both,

Cathy

Kirsten (not Kristen) said...

Alison,

I can't imagine having to deal with a bad nurse on top of everything else. You're right, fire that pita ASAP.

Big hugs to you and Adrienne and hopes that today is a better day.

Kirsten

Veronica said...

I'm so sorry that you're having to see Adrienne so distressed - you're both so strong and resilient, but this must all be taking its toll.
I hope the love that everyone is sending is helping you through the tough times........if there is anything, ANYTHING at all that we can do, all you have to do is say.

Hoping for a better day and night for you both.............<3

Anonymous said...

Hi Alison,
Just said a prayer for Adrienne. Thinking of you and your family.
Wendy