Playing An Instrument

Texting

Pain Control 

This is like August all over again. Pam has had a lot of mouth pain and they have started her on "PCA"... patient controlled analgesia. Anytime she feels like it, she can push a button to give her a small dose of narcotic pain medication.  I wrote about it during her first round of chemo back in August: Pain Pump.  They tried her on Fentalyn with the PCA yesterday, but she broke out in a rash, so now she is on Dilaudid.

She is also using viscous lidocaine on her sore tongue, which helps a little.





Getting Ready
for a Haircut




The pain pump definitely helps her with the pain, but it also makes her even more goofy than normal. She is apt to fall asleep in mid-sentence or talk to you groggily with one eye open and the other closed. Once she fell asleep and started waving her arms around while holding one of her IVs in one hand and the cord to the PCA in the other.  I asked her what she was doing, and she said "playing an instrument".


Nutrition

The mouth pain is making it impossible for her to eat solid food. Even drinking water or the Boost drinks is very painful.  She was only able to choke down 2 Boosts today, and she should be drinking 5 of them to get adequate nutrition.  I am sure they will put her on IV nutrition soon.  (Called TPN, I wrote about that last August as well.)


Flu

The results from the flu culture came back today, and Pam still tests positive for the virus.  That was really disappointing, because it means she has to stay isolated in her room for fear of infecting some other immuno-compromised patient. It would be so great to be able to walk the hall.

Hair
Pam's Mom, Bonnie, shaved her head on Saturday. In the scheme of things this is very minor.


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