[2:41pm]
Today, I wanted to tackle the world head on! I woke up early, took a shower, did all my skincare/mouthcare, and dressed up in my street clothes. Then I sat on my newly installed exercise bike, turned on the TV, and got ready to do some exercising!
***OCCLUSION IN LINE***
That is my metaphor for the day. The darn pumps beeping. They beep continuously and relentlessly until a nurse (not you) fixes them. Air-in-line, transfusion complete, occlusion in line errors are enough to take any sane man to oblivion.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), I'm too tired to rant any further... I got some sort of weird virus in the hospital, but my mom will tell you all about that.
PS -- Everything I've read seems to indicate that day +3 is the hardest. So, one more day!
MOM'S UPDATE 3:05pm
This morning when I arrived a nurse was putting in a PIC line in Austin's left arm. She had some difficulty due to scar tissue. Normally, the PIC line hangs down but for some reason, Austin's line goes up and the line keeps having problems. The nurse comes in and fixes it...."beep, beep, beep" again. Austin is VERY tired and just wants to get some rest but either the beeping is going off giving him a headache or someone is coming into the room.
Austin's nurse recently came into the room to give us some "bad news". Both Austin and I thought that she was going to say that something is wrong with the PIC line and it would have to be redone. Wrong, Austin has a virus called "Norwalk". This is known as the "cruise ship virus". No one can account for how he got this virus, but NOW everyone haws to wear gowns, masks and even gloves if they are going to touch the patient. It is highly contagious and the main symptom is diarrhea. Another patient on the ward tested positive for it, but apparently now he is negative.
Anyway, Austin will be given IVIG, which is collected from a group of healthy donors and has the antibodies to fight this virus. I caught the doctor in the doctor's area and asked a few questions and he will be visiting Austin to explain in more detail and also to pull the central line from Austin's neck.
Austin's vitals are fine. His mouth hurts so much it is hard for him to talk. He was able to keep some ensure down and will get IV nutrients starting tonight.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
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Oh no, stomach flu. This article at Wikipedia tells us that Norovirus is typically spread in institutions. The most common method is by food preparation by an infected employee who contaminated the food, especially by using the bathroom and not washing hands then touching food. Norovirus is not killed thoroughly by alcohol gels. This virus can be blocked by a stronger cleaner, such as a chlorine based cleaner or presumably iodine, such as betadine. Of course, one of its big symptoms is, you guessed it, nausea. As if Austin needed a new source of nausea! And diarrhea. Very likely, this infection is the fault of the hospital environment. The treatment they are going to use, IVIG, is Intravenous immunoglobulin. This is a solution of active antibodies taken from blood donors. It means that for a while, Austin will be able to use the antibodies of the donors while his are regrowing - assuming that enough of the donors in his IVIG dose had immunity to this particular strain of Norovirus. However IG is not without risks. I don't like that Austin has to receive it now, and I don't like that he has gotten an infection from another patient on the same ward (or, the alternate explanation that he and the other patient both got the infection from the hospital food or staff.) Somehow, I expected this not to happen at Stanford.
All of us in the lymphoma community should do what we can to encourage people to become marrow donors. Right now, the National Marrow Donor Program has an endowment which makes it cost-free for new donors to register. Let me encourage everyone to go to the site and register. The screening process is free and painless. The endowment ends Nov. 30th, so hurry.
Myself, I did not meet one of the medical criteria, and was not able to register to be a donor.
Oh wow. I'm sorry to hear that you caught a virus. Big time bummer. You sure don't need the extra worry and nausea right now.
So, the dreaded day 3 is almost here. The peak of the mountain! You can and will do this though. You have not fought this battle and climbed the mountain not to reach the summit. And oh what a glorious ride down the other side! You are going to be feeling SO MUCH BETTER soon. It is within your grasp.
The IV nutrition should give you some energy. And soon enough, your beloved bacon will be back on your menu.
Be strong tomorrow!
Not what I expected to read :(
I just want you to know that I will be without computer contact until Sunday, but although I'll not be leaving my regular comments, I want you to know that you and your family are VERY much in my thoughts........this too shall pass............Vx
I stayed with Austin until about 1:30am, caught some sleep in the conference room, then rejoined him at about 7:15 am until it was time for me to leave for work. Napping outside his room allows me to honor the hospital rule that no one can stay overnight with the patient. He is in considerable discomfort, especially his mouth, which burns and hurts. He tends to speak through clenched teeth to avoid any but the most necessary mouth movements. He didn't have the energy to do any computer work while I was there. He wanted to listen to Chopin. So, I downloaded all of Chopin's etudes, Polonaises, and preludes (the Pollini versions) and put them on his laptop to play over his inadequate laptop speakers. He asked me, "Am I pathetic now?" He seemed to feel that way. He enjoyed me reading his recent blog entries and comments to him. I had some Simpsons episodes he had not watched, but he was too tired to watch video. The piano music was more his speed. In the morning, he did feel slightly more energetic and was game for the video, but I had to leave about that time. He was also receiving morning medications, much of it in pill form. My last view of him was with his eyes closed, concentrating on calming his nausea so he could keep down his pills. It is obviously quite a struggle. Seeing him, one feels dismayed that anyone has to endure such continued misery. I could only give him my love and my assurance, whatever it is worth, that he would soon be feeling better.
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