Friday, December 23, 2011
Tonight we are all home once again. Derek was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, just in time for Christmas.
For more than a week following his hospital admission, Derek was in a lot of pain. Morphine did not even touch it, so they had to give him an even stronger medication that pretty much knocked him out. The only solution for pancreatitis is to let the pancreas rest, so once again, Derek could eat and drink nothing.
Saturday night, he spiked a fever of 102° so they started him on three antibiotics. He was severely dehydrated, and to make matters worse, he started leaking fluids into the space around the organs in his abdomen (called third spacing) and he got quite distended. They moved him to the special care unit which is usually occupied by transplant patients, but also serves as acute care for other patients. They finally got his pain managed by putting him on a continuous drip of dilaudid, a very strong pain medication. Once the pain was under control, he began to perk up a bit and spend some time playing with his Legos and some other toys people brought him for early Christmas presents.
Initially, Derek’s pancreatic enzymes dropped sharply, but then plateaued, still well above normal levels. After a week, his pain increased again, and they had to increase his pain medication. As he stabilized, they moved him from the special care unit back to the regular unit. With his pain under control, he began going to the playroom and giggling again. For me there is nothing so reassuring as hearing him giggle.
Chemotherapy started again the week after he was admitted. We were concerned that it would slow his progress further, but he tolerated it fine.
After nearly two weeks, they reduced his pain medication to see how he was progressing. He had no pain except when they took him off completely. Finally, they allowed him to drink clear liquids, which he tolerated fine. He was not too keen on them, however. It was obvious he was still not really feeling like eating yet, but he did not throw up. A bout of diarrhea had us concerned that he might have caught an infection, but it resolved within a couple days.
Finally, after two and a half weeks, they removed him from the pain medication completely and let him eat soft foods. He did not eat much, and frequently after just a few bites, he would lie down and say his tummy hurt a little. It never lasted long, though, and he did not want medication for it. By now, his energy level was increasing and it was obvious he was feeling a bit better. Our goal was to get him eating enough to take him off his IV nutrition so we could go home by Christmas. The hospital food was not appealing to him at all, and it was hard to get him to eat or drink much of anything.
On Wednesday of this week, they told us they would release him after his chemo treatment on Thursday. We were ecstatic! We would be home for Christmas!
Sure enough, yesterday afternoon, after three weeks in the hospital, he was released from the hospital as planned. Last night we drove around looking at Christmas lights, a favorite activity he has missed the last three weeks. Today he began eating better, and I think he is on the mend. It is so good to be home!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Derek is back in the hospital tonight. This time it is pancreatitis, which is an uncommon but not rare reaction to one of the chemo drugs he received two weeks ago. The drug should be out of his system in the next week or so, and that is probably how long it will take the pancreatitis to resolve. He will not receive that chemo drug (PEG) anymore. So he is back in the hospital and not able to eat once again. This time, the big difference is he does not want to eat and throws up anything given him by mouth.
It started yesterday when he complained of stomach pain occasionally throughout the day. I rubbed his back. He felt a bit better after a bowel movement, and last night when asked if his tummy still hurt, he replied that it didn’t.
This morning, however, he woke up early and came and crawled in bed with me and complained that his tummy hurt again in the same spot, directly under his belly button. It was bad enough that he occasionally moaned in pain. I knew something was wrong and called the doctor. She and I feared the pneumatosis was causing problems. She told us to come to the clinic for blood work, which we did. His counts came back expectedly low but higher than Monday’s, which was also expected. They sent us over to the hospital for an X-ray and asked us to return to the clinic when done. The X-ray showed nothing, so they didn’t think it was the pneumatosis, but it didn’t show anything else, either. They decided to look at his enzyme levels in his blood which would indicate a pancreas problem. While we waited again for the results of the blood test, they sent us back to the hospital for a CT scan to get a better look and to see if there was any evidence of the pneumatosis. After four more hours, the CT scan was complete and we headed back to the clinic. When we walked in the door, the doctor told us it was pancreatitis. So just after 6 p.m. this evening Derek was admitted. He has had intense abdominal pain that got progressively worse all day. They said it can last several days and to expect being in the hospital for most of next week.
Things to be thankful for:
- There was no evidence of any pneumatosis whatsoever. It has completely resolved now.
- Derek does not feel like eating. That is a blessing because he can’t eat. Last time he was starting NPO he was ravenously hungry.
- Good friends opened their home to Kristen all day today while I took Derek back and forth between the clinic and hospital. I really don’t know what I would do without them! THANK YOU FRIENDS!!
- When I walked in the door this evening and listened to my phone messages, there was a message from a friend saying she had fixed food for us not even knowing we were at the clinic today or that Derek was admitted this evening. I think God impressed her to fix extra food, and she did. Thank you, friend.
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