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.

So we take one day at a time, keep a packed suitcase in the back of the car for just such times as these, and trust the One who knows what tomorrow holds.