celeni's Cancer Blog
September 4, 2008
| The saga continues... | Views: 1472 |
Well…yesterday afternoon I was planning to go visit Wes for a couple of hours after work. I called him a couple of times “in route” to see if he had a craving for anything in particular to eat only to get his voice mail that I swear he hasnt changed in 3 years…lol. About 10 minutes away from the hospital he returned my call..a little out of breath…explaining that he had just gotten back from a sonagram of his stomach (he said he thought his gall bladder was acting up) and by the way…things got screwed up at the radiation lab…they didnt make his new cradle for the radiation treatment for the tumor in his lung…he was worn out…and no he wasnt hungry for anything (except maybe the chocolate ice cream that we had stashed in the nourishment centers fridge a couple of days earlier. he sounded tired…but nothing bizarre or anything…so imagine my surprise when I walk into his room 20 minutes later to 4 or 5 people standing around him…wired to the hilt…and him telling me…”Babe, I’m in “AFIB” again”. WHAT? “Yep”, he replied…”i had a coughing fit and it sent me into afib…call Frieda…she’ll be upset if we dont let her know”. Deja Vu…heart rate 160-180ish…low blood pressure…it was the same as the other night coming back to haunt him again.
A resident, his student, the nurse and PCT (primary care technician) stood around monitoring heartbeats and blood pressures. Wes looked SO pale and SO yellow and was sweating bullets…soaking sheets and pillow cases. The doc (Crescentiti…think of crescent roll)said they werent going to do the cardioconversion they did the other night…because this would be more likely to happen again, but were going to administer some drugs there at bedside into his IV to see if this would correct the problem. Freida got there and was brought up to date. They administered the first dose (of whatever) in increments of 10 cc’s till they reached 30 cc’s..some change nothing major. They then tried another type of drug into his IV that seemed to make some progress but not much…so they decided to consult with the cardiologist that handled this situation just the other night. Long story short…he came in ..hours later…and said that the tumor ( I am assuming the same tumor that is pressing against the bronchial tube that they are going to try to shrink via radiation) is ALSO PRESSING AGAINST HIS HEART and evidently when he gets into his coughing fits it throws his heart into Atrial Fibrillation. And by the way, I did find out about the cloudy right lung…it is cloudy because it has collapsed.
So they brought him his heart medicine, morphine and cough medicine so that he could get some rest and relief. I went to the car to get my jazzercise mat to make my pallet on the floor next to Freida. He had a few coughing spells during the might and some time in the wee hours of the morning I heard the nurse come in and said that he had been maintaining a somewhat normal heartbeat and blood pressure for the past couple of hours and took off most of the wiring so that he could rest even better. He actually must have felt better because he sang her a little tune regarding the medicine he was requesting…and in my half sleep I finished a verse for him that mad him laugh…I wish I could remember what the song was…
Got off my mat at 5ish (am) and headed home to take a shower,feed my dogs,drop off some prescriptions on my parents porch and come to work… I cant believe I actually got here on time. Called Frieda, she said the entourage of doctors came in saying everything was looking just fine…Yeah…Right…
Hoping for a better day for all!
veronica 
Sharon Traywick 
Thanks for your support -
I’ve been reading all of your blogs. I hope that your boyfriend will pull through. I’ve been saying tons of prayers for him and for your strength.
Assefa
Celeni; I am always taken aback when you tell us more events about Wes’s condition. It sounds just too awful and painful. I hope they are pumping him with morphine, cause I wouldn’t like to think of him in pain. He sounds like such a trooper and for this, he is proving that the Cancer is not going to take him just yet. I hope you are trying to get some rest in your own bed. As a caretaker you won’t be much good if you are too tired. It will deplete your emotions and physical strength. You need to sleep in a proper bed! I hope you consider this as I have done what you have and it really doesn’t pay in the end. You will need to be strong in the days ahead. Just a small piece of advice. As always you give us great detail and we feel as if we are right in the room with Wes. I hope he is feeling better. Take care Celini. Weezie