Let me start by saying, those of you who know me know that I am easy going and I get along with most people. We love coming to OU Medical Center and have had a good experience overall. However, early this morning the ER receptionist saw the NOT So NICE side of me. It took me raising my voice and getting nasty with them. I told him that we had driven 4 hours up there and sat in the ER waiting room 7 1/2 hours and I was about to page Dr Holter, who had told us to come up and get a CT scan. We didn't know if he had a tumor, or could have a stroke or what! He told me that he would find out what they could do in the back.
Apparently I rose enough of a stink, they called his name within two minutes at 1am. Dr Godfry in the ER examined Stevan and finally got him in for a CT scan around 3am. Afterward I was able to grab a few Z's by sitting in a straight back chair sideways with my head resting on the walls rail. I'm sure I looked a sight, but I felt a bit better. Around 4:30am the results came back. He has a mass behind his left eye which is making his eye protrude outward.
Dr Godfry called in the emergency eye doctor to come evaluate his eyes. She determined that his eyesight is 20/20 and the mass is not attached to or has any connection to the eye or the optic nerve. The mass is simply pushing his eye outward, which is causing him to have problems with double, blurred and problems with his sight.
About 5:30am, we were told that the BMT unit was having him admitted to room 750, to then determine what they needed to do with the mass. Dr Selby, from the transplant unit, came to visit and evaluate Stevan next. He explained that the mass was more than likely a plasmacytoma, caused by the plasma cells, where they multiply and crowd out normal blood cells, forming a tumor/mass. They want to take a biopsy of the mass, but they are concerned on how to exactly do that. Their first comment was "Can we stick a needle in and through your eye to grab a tissue sample?" WHAT? We don't think so. We had two doctors come in from the Eye Institute to evaluate his eyes, yet again. They concluded that they would follow his progress, but when it comes to getting the biopsy, they were recommending the neuro unit to get involved.
Dr Selby discussed with us the options we had to treat the mass after the biopsy. One option is they can treat the mass with radiation, but that could risk and damage the eye. Second to treat with chemo medicines, Dexamethasone (or there was something else he rattled off to use) and hope that it shrinks it down. Finally, they might be able to take it out.
They got a chest x-ray and did a lot of labs, including the 24 hour urine sample, to check out the myeloma levels in his system. They are looking at his back again and the problems he's having with it.
This afternoon we got some sleep. I forgot to bring my glasses, so I took out my contacts and went blind for a while to rest my eyes.
I figure we will be here for several days. I doubt if we get any answers until Monday. Thank you for the prayers. More updates to come tomorrow.
Us before Myeloma
Celebrating our 5 year Anniversary a few days early. Wow! We've both changed over the past few years.
Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A Night Mare Of A Day Explained Day +69
Yesterday was a really bad day. I need to fill in what happened to bring us to a room here at OU Medical Center.
Sunday Stevan slept all morning, but joined us as we went to eat at our neighbors cafe for lunch. He ate a burger but said that his stomach was bothering him and was upset. We got home and I hooked him up to his medicine as always and he laided down for his nap. By 4:30pm he was running a fever, 100.2. At 6:30pm it was coming up, 100.6 and two hours later it was at 101.5. He took two Tylenol and I called the BMT Unit. I let them know what was going on and that this had been going on for a week now. She suggested that we pack up and come in right then. We told her that we were to be at Dr Whites office the next day anyway, we would wait. She said that she would make a note on his record what was going on. By 11pm it had dropped to 99.1.
We got on the road at 6am and headed to Grandma's to drop off the kids and hook him up to his morning dose of Vancomycin, but got a mile down the road and Stevan yelled stop the car. He threw open the door and puked. He said that it tasted like medicine. I gave him some Emetrol and we continued on. About five miles further, he yelled stop again, purging the rest of what was in his stomach. At this point I decided that I was not hooking him up to his medicine until the doctors told me to. I called the BMT Unit again and let them know that we were on our way and what had just happened. I gave him a 25 mg of Phenergan and we continued to OKC to see Dr White.
Stevan slept the rest of the drive to OKC. He had to turn in his 24 hour urine sample and give a blood sample at the lab. They couldn't get it to draw on the first poke and on the second it was going slow (they said he was dehydrated from throwing up earlier). Before they got the comlete sample, Stevan passed out and began throwing up. He was blackout for a good bit (estimate about a minute) before coming too. The lab tech's called the medics and got him a cot but he didn't want to lay down. He was beginning to feel better by the time the medics got there and began checking him out.
I can't begin to tell you how I felt seeing Stevan passing out and throwing up... completely helpless. All I could do was hold the trashcan with one hand and try to hold him up in the chair with the other.
They were wanting to take him to the ER but he said that he had to go see Dr White and see what to do about the rod. One of the medics decided to go talk to Dr White and see if he would come check him out and help Stevan made a decision on what to do. It wasn't long after that Stevan passed out again and started throwing up again. This time he wasn't out for nearly as long. The medic that was watching him said that he was taking him regardless what he said at that point. I told the medic that there was no question, Stevan was going to the ER no matter what.
Stevan was admitted to the ER around noon and they began drawing blood for cultures, labs, x-ray and began an IV fluid. After the ER doctor coming in to check him out, then an orthopedic intern came in several times... By 4:45pm, the orthopedic intern came in and told us that Dr White wasn't going to see him today, but would schedule us another day to check him out and visit with him and then left. Stevan and I looked at each other and came to the conclusion that it seemed that they were about to discharge Stevan and we still didn't have any answers. I decided that this was not going to happen, he had been running fever and sick for too long.
I called Patti, the transplantt coordinator at the cancer center and told her where we were and what was going on and that we were afraid that they were going to release him and we didn't want that to happen. She told me that she would make some phone calls and see what she could do.
About 45 minutes later the orthopedic intern came in and asked if someone had come to update us what was going on. "NO." He then said that they were working on admitting him and see what was making him sick. We were relieved... we thought we were about to have the first bad experience here at OU.
A bit later Dr David Lam from the Cancer Center came in and began to tell us what had been going on behind the scenes and the results of the tests that had been done. Stevan's inflamation level was at a 154 and at an 8 tells them there is an infection. He also said that he knew about Stevan on Wednesday last week and had set up all the tests to prepare him for surgery and was disappointed that Dr. White didn't see him. He had also thought that Stevan was about to be discharged and he started making phone calls to make sure that didn't happen. Apparently he got pissed off and called Dr White's Intern and pissed him off, who in turn called Dr White and pissed him off. Dr White then called Dr Lam and chewed him out. During that time some communication finially started happening and Dr Lam found out that Stevan was on the schedule for surgery Tuesday afternoon, something Dr White's Intern failed to tell Dr Lam.
Dr Lam is a very committed doctor, he continued to come in and informing us of things that we needed to know. He asked us who had prescribed Stevan the hydrocortizone. I told him Dr Holter. He wanted to know if we had followed up with an Endocrinologist. "NO." Did anyone tell you that you should increase his dose when he feels sick? No. Well when he's feeling sick he should double the dose. When he's really sick like he was, throwing up, he should have tripled his dose. That was part of why Stevan was feeling good.
Finally, Dr Lam told us that Stevan's kidney's had taken a hit and were not working right. WHAT? What do you mean? Stevan's kidney's are not "hot", but tests show that his kidney's were not working correctly but it was not permanent damage and with time it was reversible. So what was the cause of this... too high of a dose of Vancomycin. This morning when Dr Lam and Dr Selby came in to visit, Dr Lam told us that Stevan's Vancomycin level last night (almost 24 hours after his last dose) was at 60. WHAT?! Last Monday it was at 25.7 which is high, considering its supposed to stay around 20. No wonder Stevan was throwing up and sick. He was being overdosed.
This morning Dr White also came in and checked on Stevan. He ordered another bone scan to see what was going on with his arm. There was one done before Stevan was released after the transplant. White is having a hard time believing that the bone is infected, considering there is no symptoms in the arm, which is unusual. He said that when the bone is infected, it tells you by having other symptoms. He thinks that Stevan was having a medicine fever, caused by the overdose of the Vancomycin.
We are now waiting on the results of the bone scan to see if Dr White will actually be pulling the rod out after all. If there is no hot spot in the bone, then Dr White is going to suggests that Stevan goes off the Vancomycin and see what happens.
I will post more when we get more information as the day goes by. Stevan is feeling better, he's not nauseous, hasn't ran a fever since last night, 99.3. He's been sleeping this afternoon like he usually does.
Sunday Stevan slept all morning, but joined us as we went to eat at our neighbors cafe for lunch. He ate a burger but said that his stomach was bothering him and was upset. We got home and I hooked him up to his medicine as always and he laided down for his nap. By 4:30pm he was running a fever, 100.2. At 6:30pm it was coming up, 100.6 and two hours later it was at 101.5. He took two Tylenol and I called the BMT Unit. I let them know what was going on and that this had been going on for a week now. She suggested that we pack up and come in right then. We told her that we were to be at Dr Whites office the next day anyway, we would wait. She said that she would make a note on his record what was going on. By 11pm it had dropped to 99.1.
We got on the road at 6am and headed to Grandma's to drop off the kids and hook him up to his morning dose of Vancomycin, but got a mile down the road and Stevan yelled stop the car. He threw open the door and puked. He said that it tasted like medicine. I gave him some Emetrol and we continued on. About five miles further, he yelled stop again, purging the rest of what was in his stomach. At this point I decided that I was not hooking him up to his medicine until the doctors told me to. I called the BMT Unit again and let them know that we were on our way and what had just happened. I gave him a 25 mg of Phenergan and we continued to OKC to see Dr White.
 |
| Only with God's strength was I able to get through yesterday. |
I can't begin to tell you how I felt seeing Stevan passing out and throwing up... completely helpless. All I could do was hold the trashcan with one hand and try to hold him up in the chair with the other.
They were wanting to take him to the ER but he said that he had to go see Dr White and see what to do about the rod. One of the medics decided to go talk to Dr White and see if he would come check him out and help Stevan made a decision on what to do. It wasn't long after that Stevan passed out again and started throwing up again. This time he wasn't out for nearly as long. The medic that was watching him said that he was taking him regardless what he said at that point. I told the medic that there was no question, Stevan was going to the ER no matter what.
As they took him into the elevator, Dr White was coming down the hall. I walked with him downstairs to tell him what had been happening today. White caught up to Stevan and told him that he had to go to the hospital and that he would come over and check him out over there.
Stevan was admitted to the ER around noon and they began drawing blood for cultures, labs, x-ray and began an IV fluid. After the ER doctor coming in to check him out, then an orthopedic intern came in several times... By 4:45pm, the orthopedic intern came in and told us that Dr White wasn't going to see him today, but would schedule us another day to check him out and visit with him and then left. Stevan and I looked at each other and came to the conclusion that it seemed that they were about to discharge Stevan and we still didn't have any answers. I decided that this was not going to happen, he had been running fever and sick for too long.
I called Patti, the transplantt coordinator at the cancer center and told her where we were and what was going on and that we were afraid that they were going to release him and we didn't want that to happen. She told me that she would make some phone calls and see what she could do.
About 45 minutes later the orthopedic intern came in and asked if someone had come to update us what was going on. "NO." He then said that they were working on admitting him and see what was making him sick. We were relieved... we thought we were about to have the first bad experience here at OU.
A bit later Dr David Lam from the Cancer Center came in and began to tell us what had been going on behind the scenes and the results of the tests that had been done. Stevan's inflamation level was at a 154 and at an 8 tells them there is an infection. He also said that he knew about Stevan on Wednesday last week and had set up all the tests to prepare him for surgery and was disappointed that Dr. White didn't see him. He had also thought that Stevan was about to be discharged and he started making phone calls to make sure that didn't happen. Apparently he got pissed off and called Dr White's Intern and pissed him off, who in turn called Dr White and pissed him off. Dr White then called Dr Lam and chewed him out. During that time some communication finially started happening and Dr Lam found out that Stevan was on the schedule for surgery Tuesday afternoon, something Dr White's Intern failed to tell Dr Lam.
Dr Lam is a very committed doctor, he continued to come in and informing us of things that we needed to know. He asked us who had prescribed Stevan the hydrocortizone. I told him Dr Holter. He wanted to know if we had followed up with an Endocrinologist. "NO." Did anyone tell you that you should increase his dose when he feels sick? No. Well when he's feeling sick he should double the dose. When he's really sick like he was, throwing up, he should have tripled his dose. That was part of why Stevan was feeling good.
Finally, Dr Lam told us that Stevan's kidney's had taken a hit and were not working right. WHAT? What do you mean? Stevan's kidney's are not "hot", but tests show that his kidney's were not working correctly but it was not permanent damage and with time it was reversible. So what was the cause of this... too high of a dose of Vancomycin. This morning when Dr Lam and Dr Selby came in to visit, Dr Lam told us that Stevan's Vancomycin level last night (almost 24 hours after his last dose) was at 60. WHAT?! Last Monday it was at 25.7 which is high, considering its supposed to stay around 20. No wonder Stevan was throwing up and sick. He was being overdosed.
This morning Dr White also came in and checked on Stevan. He ordered another bone scan to see what was going on with his arm. There was one done before Stevan was released after the transplant. White is having a hard time believing that the bone is infected, considering there is no symptoms in the arm, which is unusual. He said that when the bone is infected, it tells you by having other symptoms. He thinks that Stevan was having a medicine fever, caused by the overdose of the Vancomycin.
We are now waiting on the results of the bone scan to see if Dr White will actually be pulling the rod out after all. If there is no hot spot in the bone, then Dr White is going to suggests that Stevan goes off the Vancomycin and see what happens.
I will post more when we get more information as the day goes by. Stevan is feeling better, he's not nauseous, hasn't ran a fever since last night, 99.3. He's been sleeping this afternoon like he usually does.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Hello Hospital Room Day + 68
I'm going to make this short. It's been a L O N G D A Y..... I will go into detail tomorrow what today has dished out to us. In short, this morning we left the house to go to Dr Whites office for his appointment at 11am to discuss the possibility of pulling out the rod in his left humorous that was put in last year but has caused him to develop the bone infection after his transplant. We got a mile from the house and he had me stop so he could throw up. I gave him some Immotrole but a few miles down the road he had to purge again. We were able to keep going with out any further problems. We had to stop at the lab to drop off his 24 hour urine sample, which also meant that they had to draw a blood sample to go along with it... That's when all of Stevan's problems began to get worse. I will leave these next details til tomorrow.
We are now in a room at OU Medical, settling in for the night. Tomorrow will bring more information for you and surgery for Stevan.
Please be patient with me as I try to keep you up to date. It does take time to type everything up in an orderly and understandable fashion and sometimes.... I'm on overload and I can't seem to get the words out because I don't understand what we are being told until I sit and absorb it for a bit. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Reading your words here and on Facebook lift me up, while God gives me strength to carry on.
We are now in a room at OU Medical, settling in for the night. Tomorrow will bring more information for you and surgery for Stevan.
Please be patient with me as I try to keep you up to date. It does take time to type everything up in an orderly and understandable fashion and sometimes.... I'm on overload and I can't seem to get the words out because I don't understand what we are being told until I sit and absorb it for a bit. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Reading your words here and on Facebook lift me up, while God gives me strength to carry on.
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