Update - Welcome to September

I'll bet you all are despising the title of this post just as me. I'm just going to ignore it and pretend we're still in June and will be for months to come.

I can't pretend that I'm home yet. But I'm ok with that right now. There is a certain amount of comfort that being in the hospital affords you. Like pain medication anytime you need some; an adjustable bed; food delivery; and some strange flower paintings on the wall. I guess that's why I spend lots of time reading, interneting and napping.

With the pain meds, I am feeling better, but still not 100%. The doctors hooked me to an IV line that gives me a constant pain reliever drip (dilaudid) but then I can also press a button every 6 minutes that gives me another dose. And in an effort to transition me to meds that I can take at home without having a 24 hour IV, they started me on a Fentanyl patch (75 mg).

Besides said patches, I'm also sucking down IV antibiotics and my normal meds. The plan, right now, is to have a procedure tomorrow to replace my biliary drain in my liver (right lobe for those keeping score at home). This would have been done yesterday, if not for the morons doctors being slightly unprepared ofr the operation. "Well, John, we have a size 14 like what you already have, or we have a 16, but it's not long enough to reach the other end." Later on, a conversation between a radiologist and an oncologist occured behind my back. This is what the oncologist told me later: " 'Well we wanted to make sure we had someone skilled to do the work.' So I asked him why he didn't have all of this prepped for today if he knew that's when the procedure was to take place." I was glad to know that the Dr. oncologist shared in my frustration and anger at the lack of planning.

Now that I know they wanted to get a more knowledgeable person on the team because of the "complexity of my biliary system", I feel a bit more relieved that I'm not dealing with a team of blockheads. That is also the first and possibly last time I will ever use the term "blockhead" in the prose form.

So yada yada yada, and so on and so forth - procedure is sometime on Thursday, I expect to be released on Friday, unless something unexpected happens (at this point in the show, some eery musical chords should be played on an antique organ full of spider and cobwebs and the camera should quickly zoom in to my face as I raise an eyebrow).

Or not.

Comments

[Jon Thomas]

Never knew "interneting" was a word!

[Dr. Carole Ann Maxwell and Richard Nuzzo]

6 September 2009
John:
I feel badly that you are going through so many procedures to insert drains in your liver. Unfortunately, the doctors have to put drains in to ensure there is no back-up; you know, material back-up in your liver will cause infection, hence fever, hence hospitalization. I hope they have your pain under control! Unrelenting pain is horrific. The Fentanyl Patch will help relieve the pain... as will the Dilaudid. I'm sure you have a Pain Management doc on your treatment team; he can adjust the pain meds to ensure you are comfortable. There are also pain meds that are available in a lollipop formulation. You take them in the same manner you would suck on a lollipop. They are pretty effective.

I wish there were something I could say to ease the "crap" you have been going through. Sorry you lost your hair, but cisplatin and carboplatin have that side effect.

Keep fighting the battle John. Carole Ann and I think of you often, and you are always in our prayers.

Talk to you later.

Carole Ann Maxwell & Rit Nuzzo