Craig’s now hooked up to his BFFs Wheezy, the TPN bag, and little huffy, the saline. Their pumps make strange ‘Darth Vader’ sounds every few seconds as they pump nutrients up through the tube and into Craig. I’m going to jerry-rig a little retractable cable for Craig, in order to keep his chords tucked away in his two backpacks. He’s been dragging them on the floor, and stepping on them occasionally, which probably isn’t so good for the hygiene, me thinks.
We run a tight ship these days. Our schedule is as follows:
Wake up around 7am to give him his morning meds (4 IV injections, including Factor 8, and two pills). Around 10-ish, I have to help him dress his incision site before he takes a shower, which includes slapping on a piece of glad pastic wrap and taping it to his chest. Then at 2pm, we repeat the process starting with IV meds. I also have to take off his saline bag, flush it with saline (redundant anyone ???) and heparin, and clamp his injection line. Then around midnight, or sometimes 2/3 if we're delayed, I have to give him his last round of IV meds, followed by a new bag of TPN (which has to be prepared) and a bag of saline. This, of course, doesn’t include the moments of sudden nausea where I have to quickly grab his Ativan or Zofran. He was up vomiting last night after going almost four days vomit-free. Oh well. I suppose that's to be expected. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he'll have more good days ahead, but realize that it may be more like two steps forward and one step back than a steady upswing.
He's currently waiting to receive his fourth round of chemo as I type. They say he can have a CAT scan after the eighth, so we’re half-way there. Palliative care comes tomorrow to begin their weekly schedule of visits to assess his symptoms and change his meds, etc. Craig should also be meeting the doctor sometime next week to discuss his progress and other things. We'll see what happens.
-- J
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