Friday, August 20, 2010

Bed bound anyway

Pads finished chemo dose 4 out of 6 today and so far the Drs are quite pleased with the way his body is coping. The first infusion was thiatipa over 3 hours. For the etopiside, the second infusion, his temperature and BP were taken every half hour, but all remained normal.
Earlier, for most of the morning, he'd struggled to feel well enough to hold down a conversation, the Nintendo DS while listening to an audio book was all he could manage. It seems like mornings are the worst for him at the moment, with the 'explosion' happening around 8am today, two hours later than yesterday. Thankfully he'd had less feed to bring up but it was still unpleasant and strenuous. They're not really worried about how much or what he's eating, although to keep his gut rolling with a trickle is very useful to sustaining its health. They are weighing him every day too. Today he was 38.3 kg. They want him to drink plenty, but, whether he does or no, he's getting 100ml/hr shared between the drip and whatever's going in through the micky button. If he started to retain that fluid, it would signify that his kidneys were starting to decline. Thankfully there's no sign of that yet.
But by the time mum and Reuben arrived, at about noon, he was far brighter. He was pleased to hear that the Drs had agreed he could stop (trying to take) the Daktarin oral gel, which is supposed to suppress thrush, but the consistency is like a slimy grainy toothpaste and he's just not able to face it. It's just adding to his stress, so more trouble than it's worth at the moment.
The medical staff are expecting the isolation to begin after the weekend, so visiting is still possible in short bursts. I've got up and running with skype in the room from Pads' netbook (and a MiFi) so that will be useful to keep audio and visual contact up when the door shuts next week. Although the door is mostly open, even in his better moments, and when he's not connected to any pumps, he has no real desire to move away from his bed.

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