Thursday, February 12, 2015

Another Day


Yesterday was a pretty busy day. It took quite a while to get a bed for Maddy at the hospital but that didn't stop the doctor from moving along with her treatment. They took Maddy down for a CT by noonish. I hung back in the clinic because it usually doesn't take that long, but you know what happens when I think something will go smoothly. Maddy texted me that she was still waiting almost 30 min after they took her back. Then when she finally didi get in for the scan they wanted to use contrast and her IV wasn't big enough. So they had to call vascular access to put in a bigger IV. I asked if she wanted me to come find her and she said there was no point. Melissa got to the clinic shortly before Maddy was finished at CT. I took that opportunity to go to work for a bit and then head home to pack Maddy's bag.

The doctor also went ahead and started her IV antibiotics and steroids while she was waiting in clinic for her room. The room was finally ready around 4 but no sooner did she get settled in than they pulled her out for another test. Melissa learned from my mistake and accompanied Maddy while they took her to get an ultrasound of her legs. The docs wanted to make sure she did't have any blood clots that could travel to her lungs and make things even worse. Maddy was not happy with that exam at all. Apparently they have to push really hard in a number of places and she does't like having her legs toughed in the first place. It made her very anxious.

By the time I got back to the hospital Maddy was very worn out. The new pain meds Dr. Floreth put her on keeps the pain in her right lung at bay for the most part. They have her on full telemetry which is always a pain in the butt. Millions of little stickers and wires everywhere makes it kind of hard to get comfortable. But she is making the best of it. She went to bed as early as she could last night, around 10:45 even though they come in at 11 to do her vitals one last time before bed. She was able to sleep most of the night. Her pain meds wore off around 4AM and she woke up and cried out in pain. I helped her get out of her mask and get her O2 back on so she could sit up and wait for the nurse to get her pain meds. That was of course just in time for a bunch of people to come in and start bothering her. They do vitals and a blood draw at 4AM. I think she finally got her meds and back into her mask by 4:30 to sleep again.

Dr. Haddad came in at 7AM and did't even wake her up. Just gave her a listen and said to let her sleep. I asked him how the CT looked and he said "a lot of damage and inflammation from the rejection". He never seems very hopeful anyway but this seemed even less hopeful than usual. We still haven't heard from anyone about hospice care. I don't know if they wait to send them in just before we are ready to go home or if someone will come by today to talk to us about it.

Maddy got up for a little while around 9 to do her breathing treatments. I was able to get her to drink a yogurt smoothie while she was up. The nurse also got her morning meds done and hung another IV antibiotic. It seems they are running every 6 hours on one of them and every 8 hours on the other. It's about 10 and Maddy is napping again. She didn't want to put the mask on so I told her I would watch her breathing and let her rest without it for an hour or so. As long as she doesn't sleep too long without it there is not worry about the CO2 building up too much. I'm guessing she will be asleep most of the day soI will make her put it back on again before too long.

As for her spirits, Maddy is just very tired. She is hoping this will help get her back on her feet again and give her another chance to live for a little while at least. She hasn't given up and told the doctors to bug off just yet so thats a good sign. Last night she was complaining that the creepy crawly feeling from the steroids was kicking in. She hoped the pain meds they have her on would help her get past that and be able to rest and so far that seems to be the case. There is nothing worse than the feeling steroids gives us! I have experienced it on small doses so I can't imagine what Maddy puts up with when she is on these high doses. At least this time around she is able to rest.

I think thats all for now. I'm just going to stay close and be available for what ever she needs. I'm so thankful that we live so close to the hospital now! and for all my awesome co-workers and boss who cover things for me when this craziness goes down. And of course I am very thankful for all the prayers and good vibes coming from everyone near and far. Maddy is still fighting so we all should too!

2 comments:

  1. Keeping you all in my prayers. Stay strong in your faith and remember that you have a whole community lifting you up.

    Teri

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  2. Prayers And Hugs Been Sent from me to you i have two grandsons fighting cf xxxx

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