And We Thought We Were Having A Good Day: Day +3 and 4

It seems to never fail, when I leave the hospital even for a short time, Stevan has drama. Yesterday was going so well. Stevan was still having some rib pain on his right side but with pain meds, he was managing. He had eaten breakfast a little lunch. He seemed to be doing good so I went to catch up with a former co-worker and get our laundry done up. He requested I bring back fried chicken, which he can’t get from the hospital cafeteria. I texted him several times so he would know what I was doing and would soon be back. After I took care of everything, including going to Wal-Mart to pick up another couple of shirts and sweatpants for him, it was after 10:30 PM by the time I got back to the hospital.

He was so excited to get his chicken but after eating he said that it didn’t have any flavor. It tasted like cardboard. He then proceeded to tell me that after I had left they had taken him downstairs to get x-rays of his chest, due to the pain had increased. It got so bad that they had to give him morphine to ease the pain faster. They also gave him some cream to put on his ribs that should help relax the muscles around the ribs. They had taken him off oxygen earlier in the day, but since he was on morphine they put him back on the oxygen. His tongue has turned white. Not sure why. They have given him another mouthwash to help with that.

By the time his red headed nurse, Jenni came in to do his midnight vitals, he was again in a lot of pain and wanted to sleep. She gave him some Benadryl and Morphine and out he went. Throughout the night she gave him more morphine and finally some Oxycodone this morning so it would last longer.

The doctor on call this weekend is Dr Carla Kurkjian. She examined Stevan’s ribs and told us that the x-rays showed nothing was broken and that it was more than likely from the neulasta shot he received on Thursday. She told him to be sure and do his breathing exercises so that he would expand his lungs and prevent pneumonia.

Dr. Khalil, Stevan's hematologist oncologist, stopped by this morning to visit. He asked if Dr. Holter has discussed with us, maintance medicines after the transplant. He agrees that there is not a right or wrong way to proceed, but encouraged us to begin thinking about what we want to do after the transplant is complete and be ready to discuss it with him and Dr. Holter at that time. Stevan is looking forward to not being on any meds after treatment if they are not needed. The Revlimid, makes him shaky and the dex has its own symptoms he has to deal with.

As I began to type this post up, Stevan got sick to his stomach and up came his fried chicken from last night. I called the nurse and she brought him some more anti- nausea medicine. This time it has knocked him out. He should sleep most of this afternoon.

Seeing him like this is heart breaking. I know that he's ok when he picking on me and giving me a hard time. When he's not feeling good he gets really sappy and lets his guard down. Over the last couple of days I've seen him near tears as his chin begins to quiver. He's been quite clingy over the last couple of days, wanting me to hold his hand, scratch his head or arm and rub his belly when it hurts. I will be sitting by his bedside today to make sure he knows he's not alone.

I'm actually enjoying the time to relax, sleep in, watch tons of TV, play on the internet and read. The only thing better would be at home doing all of this. Many have asked when we will get to come home. The doctors have said 10 to 14 days from transplant. That would be around June 7 to 9. Stevan's counts came down drastically last night.

Types of cells in the blood.

White Cells 1.4
Red Cells 3.48
Platelets 149

They said within the next day or two his white cells will drop to under 1 and he will then need blood products, such as platelets. Tomorrow I will let you know what that means and what many of you can do to help us with this.

Thank you for the continued prayers. Apparently we have the worse to go through before it gets better.

It Begins Day +2

I have been giving Stevan some extra attention today. He's not felt good today and was very needy today. I haven't had a lot of time to write since I was either rubbing his back, scratching his head or just being close to him at his bedside most of the day. We finally took a short nap this afternoon, when I had a headache that wouldn't go away.

Jen, Stevan's redheaded nurse. She
was a bit shy hiding behind her mask.

Yesterday afternoon Stevan began to complain about his right upper ribs were hurting. They believe this is from the Neulasta he was given yesterday. During his 4am vitals, his red head nurse, Jen, was a bit concerned with his oxygen level hanging around 88%. She ended up getting him talking and it came up. But then during his 8am and noon vital readings his oxygen continued to be a bit low.

The waves of nauseous began today. Stevan got up this morning not feeling good, but ate a decent breakfast and lunch. Shortly after lunch he got to feeling sick and very groggy, couldn't hold his eyes open. He got to sweating even though the room was cool (68). About that time his nurse Jordon came in and I let her know what was going on. She then put him on oxygen and began to monitor him. Soon after that came the chest x-ray and then more lasix. They are concerned that he still has fluid in his body, possibly in his lungs and/or pressing on his heart that is causing the low oxygen levels. They consider his level to be at risk and they are taking precautions.

Lovenox, a blood thinner was administered this evening in the belly. Stevan was not happy about that. Debby, the daytime supervisor, told him that it was ordered daily to be injected into his stomach... OH how he hates these! They burn! She went slow to try and keep it from burning so much.

Dinner was not successful tonight for Stevan. After he took a shower, he became very nauseous. He ate a few bites of chicken noodle soup and drank some Sprite. He was done. I couldn't even entice him with a plain burrito this evening after going to Taco Bell.

Tomorrow I'm going to catch up with a former colleague for lunch and get our laundry done for another week. So yes I'm going to take some time out for myself and get out of the hospital for a while.