Sorry this is coming out so late. Came in to work today and been having lots-o-fun catching up...
Yesterday:
Mom's afternoon and evening continued to go okay. Her fever did come back, but only for a short time before it broke again. She has been on strong pain relief medication - dilaudid and percocet - since her stomach pain returned. These pretty much knock her out and she seems to rest comfortably, occasionally looking up to see who is in the room.
Mario stayed with dad last night and told me he would call or text if there was anything concerning going on, and would just keep track if things were okay. I was thankful not to hear from him for that reason. I returned to the hospital for a quick visit this morning before work and he confirmed that all her stats were good through the night (BP, Temp, Oxygen and Blood sugar). The blood sugar was probably okay because they stopped her feeding tube, which they also had some complications with. It kept stopping (and beeping), so they switched it out. They also changed her IV. The one she had was in the bend of her right arm and she wouldn't keep it straight. Not necessarily because she was moving it for comfort, but because it was reflexing back up towards her chest. I don't understand an IV in the crease of your arm anyway - they hurt there.
They started a respitory therapy and she will be getting four treatments a day that involve massaging her chest and administering an nebulizer treatment. They are hoping to break up the "yuck" in her chest that she has not been able to cough up.
Today:
I went to visit mom and take dad something to eat during my lunch hour. Mondo took him breakfast and JJ had been there with him through the morning. It sounds like her stats were still good and she is still "out of it" and resting well. The floor doctors doing rounds came by and noted that she has a cyst on her ovary, but apparently didn't sound concerned about it.
Her nurse let them know that they would be changing back to the original food and trying some other medication. When I got there, they were changing that out and she had just finished a respiratory treatment.
Dr. Halmark (her hospitalist taking over for Dr. Acosta) came by just as I was leaving. I'm sorry that this part won't be as clear as I would like it to be, but I'll do my best...
He said that the last xray showed that the pneumonia was getting worse. I'm not sure which xray he was referring to because her pulmonologist had just been in and hadn't mentioned it. He said she might get another xray in a day or two. I'm really mad at myself for not asking more on that, but I'm confused now because as far as I had heard, her last xray was "better" but not great. There is concern that the mass may be causing a blockage that will not allow mom to expel the crap she needs to get out of her lungs. They might have to do some sort of bronchial scope (surgical) to check on it. He said they may be able to biopsy during the procedure if it's decided this needs to be done.
He talked about the changes that were being made regarding the cramping in her stomach. Her food will be changed and administered at half the usual amount and increased as tolerated. She will be taken off of one of her antibiotics that is known to cause stomach irritation. She will be given Immodium and the pain relievers will continue as long as she is having the severe cramping.
Dr. Halmark also mentioned the newly found cyst on her ovary. He sounded a bit more cautious about it and suggested that if we plan to treat her cancer, we have this looked at by an OB Oncologist. We do plan to treat her cancer as soon as she can tollerate it and so he is getting that into the works now. He did mention that it's unusual for this type of cyst to be found in a women mom's age and that in general, ovarian cancer usually shows multiple tumors on the ovary. They've only found one.
Discussion with all of her doctors is consistant with saying she needs to be stable without fever for a period of time in order to perform the biopsy. For the time being, we just don't know when that will happen. Honestly, my first priority (I think all of ours) is to get her well enough to start rehabilition from the effects of the stroke.
Well, I'm off work now so I will be heading back to the hospital. Hope you all are well.
xox,
Tommy
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