Sunday, December 12, 2010

Guest Blogger: The Wife : )

That's right.  It's Dianne.  So sorry to have missed Saturday here, but we're back! And we're coming at you from the comfort of my parents house.  No more hospital.

Yesterday we were pleasantly surprised to have Paul discharged from the hospital on the date we originally anticipated (despite starting his chemo regimen a whole day late).  He woke up and started his pre-meds pretty early yesterday, and they moved right along to ensure he'd be discharged in a timely fashion.  Part of that was to help us avoid driving in what some of our fellow Kentuckians consider a blizzard:

Ahem. Yeah. But, alas it is pretty. 

Other new developments include all of the medicines that Paul has learned to tolerate.  Right before our wedding he started having severe pain due to what the doctors can only assume is the location of the tumors.  So that is one thing that has just been something we continue to deal with on a daily basis.  The upside of being in the hospital is that they are able to manage his pain much more efficiently through things like him having an IV, as well as just being able to regularly change and update his medicines and dosages. 

During this trip, some of those dosages were changed.  He is now able to use a longer acting medicine that he can take much less frequently and is his primary means of pain management.  

Paul has also been on anticoagulants (blood thinners) since this summer.  They changed some of that up this week with the pill that he on because they were closely monitoring his blood "thickness" while they were planning to remove his chemo port.  He is now back on pills, as well as an injection, called Lovenox.  He will have to have a shot in is belly twice a day for the next 10 days.  Guess who does that? Yours truly.  It's not too big of a deal, but I did it once with the nurse before we left for safety's measure.

He will also be on supersized antibiotic for the next 10 days, as well as a special steroid for 2 days.  These both help to counteract all the mean aggressive things the chemo has done to his body this week.  Right now, he's on the couch across from me just trying to sleep it off.

Also, he two medicines for chemo related nausea:  Zofran and Phenergan.   These are both something he used over the summer with his first cycle of chemo.  Nothing too exciting here. 

Last but not least, he'll have one shot of Neulasta.  This is pretty interesting stuff. It helps the body regenerate white blood cells after chemo since the chemo harms those good cells while trying to get rid of the bad ones.

Considering how much stuff he now has to keep track of, I drew up a little chart when we got home last night.  This will make it a little easier for knowing when he had what, and when he is supposed to take it again.  Why does the pharmacy not have some awesome print out of this?  Better yet, why is there not an "App" for this?  Sheesh.


I suppose that's all the big news since leaving.  I'm sure as soon as Paul has rested and feels up to it he'll be back to let you know how he's doing. Thanks for checking in : )

1 comment:

  1. Thank you both for your continued update and letting us in on this journey!! Paul and I were roomates in college and I look at this at least once a day. It reminds me that I have absolutly nothing to complain about. Soldier on buddy!

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