Hi Friends,
On Thursday Dr. Ebrahim decided to involve a Palliative Care person in Anne's situation. Dr. Cindy Frost visited us around noon Thursday. She had a good approach and we liked her very much. She talked about the amounts of drugs Anne has been using as of late, and her recommendations for changes. She was on board with our plan with Dr. Ebrahim to go home the next day, it being Friday.
As an aside: I myself could've used some good drugs after the Lakers beat the Celtics by one point in overtime this evening. I'm used to it tho, it's nothing different than any other regular season Laker game at Boston for the past 6-7 years.
Anyway, after Dr. Frost analyzed the amount of Dilotted pain med Anne had used, she recommended a larger dose of the Fentanyl patch. She increased that up to 75 micrograms every 3 days and would have that first patch applied to Anne's arm within minutes. This way she could evaluate it's affect in the morning. 75 micrograms is twice the then current amount, 37.5.
The Dilotted would continue to be available 'as needed' for pain. The hope is that the amount of Dilotted requested will be reduced.
Dr. Frost also made changes to the medicines Anne uses to control the bowell. I don't want to get into the details but I believe it is called Lactulose, that still with stool softeners.
She also prescribed a new Nausea med (Haloperidol) which is scheduled every 8 hours. Plan is to get a handle on the nausea, with the Ativan and Zofran still available for backup, as needed.
She also prescribed Dexamethasone (Decadron), a corticosteroid, similar to a natural hormone produced by your adrenal glands. It often is used to replace this chemical when your body does not make enough of it. It relieves inflammation (swelling, heat, redness, and pain) and is used to treat certain forms of arthritis; skin, blood, kidney, eye, thyroid, and intestinal disorders (e.g., colitis); severe allergies; and asthma. Dexamethasone is also used to treat certain types of cancer. This one can give Anne more energy too, and she'll have to lay off of it for awhile after she tries it for a month or so.
She has coumadin, a blood thinner, in case there are any remaining blood clots needing to be treated. This will stop some day.
Overall plan is to control her pain, her nausea, her bowell, and reduce all of the extra bodily fluid in her tissues.
Anne was so happy to get home Friday at around 5pm. The last thing they did at the hospital was to remove her picc line. Don't want any chance of infection from that. So, it is gone.
Anne did well at home all evening. We organized her meds as best we could. Once we went to bed, I slept all night till 7am. I heard her snoring when I woke up but she said she really woke at 6am. She had stepped from the bed to the commode a handful of times during the night, never bothering me. Yes, she's still using 2 diuretics (Lasix and Spironolactone) which help reduce the fluid still in her tissues. When Anne got up this morning she commented on how her right ankle was not as swollen as it was at bedtime. I was glad for that, because I noticed it was definately swelling up last night.
Today, Saturday, Anne has done well at home. Her weight is down 69 pounds from Jan 17, the day she moved from Springbrook back to MMC. She needed pain meds on waking up today.
I prep'd a bowl of cereal for her and she needed nausea meds after that. I'm sure I served her too much. Certainly more than the little yellow box of cherrios you get in the hospital. Shame on me, I'll learn.
We had a very late lunch do to having company over, and Anne needed pain meds after that. She had beef stew for supper and a little desert, and did not have pain following that. She's doing some walking laps around the house right now. It is 7pm.
We hope for a great evening. It feels like everybody here is happy. Beasley, Dixie, Anne and me. the household is back together, and we have our glue here. Dixie must feel like she died and went to heaven. I think she had the toughest time with Anne being hospitalized pretty much from Nov 28 to Feb 10, give or take a week or so.
If you wish to visit Anne at home please do call ahead and check with her, and plan to stay no longer than 30 minutes. Thank you. And thanks again for all your cards, well wishes, and prayers. We continue to pray for Anne's comfort, well being, and we've not given up on asking for the miracle of asking the Lord to dry up the cancer. We know that He can do that.
PS I don't plan on doing very much blogging going forward now that Anne is home from the hospital. I want to thank all of you who have been interested in Anne's progress, and have kept up on that by reading this. Thank you for being there. Perhaps now we can pick up where we left off with our more normal, personal, close, friendships.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
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