We Can't Go to Fly Creek. Bob is Really Sick and Gets Dehydrated!

Saturday May 23 at about noon. There were some good hours. It's easy to forget that in the midst of a mostly sick W/E. Friday eve Norma and Kirsten came to visit after supper. We had a good visit - longer than we should have when Norma wasn't packed to leave. But it was so nurturing.

At about noon on Saturday Kike and Kirsten showed up to visit and to pick up the moussaka and banana bread and other food stuff we had prepared for the weekend and wanted to send to Fly Creek with them. When Norma called earlier she said that they had word from Oklahoma that Kirsten's father had died. They had spent two hours looking at old pictures and reminiscing. She said "the weekend has started, but we aren't at Debby's."

Thinking of that comment I was now taking the visits as our part of the weekend. We had another wonderful visit with Kike and Kirsten. Such loving and happy young women! We treasure them each. Before they left we pictured them with Bob (note how the face has narrowed; the roundness melted away). They are standing in front of the miniature Lilac bush that Suzanne and Raza gave Bob on his 50th birthday (in a 12" pot). It is now taller than we are. I'm glad I went back to these pictures to remind myself that we did have some happiness over that Memorial Day W/E "from hell!"

Monday May 26 1:30 a.m. Background: Bob's last IV chemotherapy was May 8th. The oral therapy (Xeloda - pills) that, in the body, becomes 5FU, started that night and he completed the two weeks on Thursday May 22. Toward the end of that therapy he became quite nauseous and called the oncologist about it. He was given a prescription for Reglan. At the same time he had, for about a week, sinus congestion with post-nasal drip and a cough. On the 23rd (the day after the Xeloda pills were finished) he began to vomit and has continued off an on. The oncologist, one of our internists and I, really think (hope?) that this is a not side effect of the chemotherapy but an adenovirus. Found more often in children, it starts with symptoms of a cold or conjunctivitis and can turn into vomiting and then progress to diarrhea.

We just returned from 7+ hours in the Laurence Hospital ER because Bob just wasn't holding anything down, had shaking chills for two nights, a temp of 100.6F at the hospital and lethargy. His urine was the color of strong, but not black tea. Now, with 2 liters of saline and 1 small bag with Reglan in it and one more with MgSO4 (magnesium sulfate to slow down smooth muscle contractions, I know it as a drug to stop premature labor) the nausea pretty much went away. He sipped at a 4 oz container of cranberry juice to finish it before they would let him go. Bob is left now with very loose stools and some belly cramping, but he's home and we are about to go to bed.

We got home to find a very caring message from the clerk of our meeting who just about 6 weeks ago completed his 6 month course of chemotherapy for an isolated colon cancer with no direct spread and just a few nodes. He mentioned the therapeutic advantage of Greek yogurt that we just heard about last night from one of the folks up in Fly Creek at the annual May Birthdays/Memorial Day W/E we had to forgo. Will get some tomorrow. We have been talking about the mental stuff in different ways these last few difficult days. Bill had a suggestion about seeing the whole journey as being in a tunnel of finite length. You just keep on through it knowing that there will be an end to it. He also referred to Petero the donkey. Anyone know of him? He dealt with long journeys by just putting 1 foot in front of the other. Bill's observations were very helpful to both of us. Sometimes, not being able to imagine what Bob is feeling (physically or emotionally) it's difficult to know when to urge him on a bit and when to help him to pull back.

Today he clearly needed a bit of urging on. I returned from meeting and an errand to buy protein drink powder and went up to see him. After I had pulled up the blinds, turned on the lights in the bedroom and pried him from the bed he accepted my suggestion that he could shower using the shower stool we have had "forever" for Mom. He was delighted to shower for the first time in 3 or 4 sweaty days. But as he was trying to shave he suddenly returned all of the bits he had been trying to eat to the sink. That was when I said it was time to call the doc. I know a good bit about dehydration and rehydration and knew it was time for the latter.

We had a good visit, as those things go, to the ER . When we called the oncologist his partner had said "come on in and if they need me to see you they will call me." She meant the Montefiore ER. Horrors! Both of us recoiled at that; but at first we agreed and told her we would go there. Then I thought I'd call our internist to see if it was appropriate for us to go to Laurence Hospital where he would be called if need be. His partner was on call and said "sure; go ahead. They can call me if they need to." He hypothesized that Bob has been having a viral infection (low grade fever, shaking chills, etc.) But we got the whole two barrels - Chest X-Ray, Urine and Blood cultures, Urinalysis and blood work (WBCs = 4.2 - good!). And guess what! Dr. Bindra who saw us is a full time member of the Montefiore Emergency Services Staff who moonlights at Laurence Hospital. So, as she said when we said who our doctors were and what our dilemma had been, "You made the right decision and got both!" She is used to working with our oncologist and his partner, and when when was ready to make a plan she called her to report and consult.

When I got hungry I went out and found a Chinese restaurant across from the ER and called Sue Weisfeld (of our meeting for those who don't know her) who lives about a dozen blocks from the hospital. In just a few minutes she joined me for company; she had already had dinner. Later on Sue returned and took me some home made coffee and a bottle of room temp water for Bob.

We made it, though the chairs they provide for family are pretty poor for sitting around that long. Good and helpful staff. Good to be home. Thankful for dear Ffriends!

Later Monday. Coumba and Rouky visited. I had set Bob up on a sponge mattress on the deck in the sunny mid-70s air where we listened to birds all around us and heard the breeze in the leaves that surround the deck. For a few hours there he felt pretty good. But it didn't last.

Wednesday, May 28, late. Re-capping just a little: On Sunday evening we went to the ER of Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville where our internists admit. We were there well over 7 hours during which time he was given 2 1-liter bags of normal saline, Reglan IV and Magnesium Sulfate IV. By 11:30 he had been able to take 4 oz of cranberry juice in sips and the doctor felt that he would be all right to go home. We very much hoped for that. However, just before leaving the ER proper he stopped in the bathroom and diarrhea started. That has continued through last night when we followed Coumba's suggestion of giving him rice water. We followed that with 2 Imodium and he really didn't move much from his bowels from then until I left the ER. Of course, he hadn't held anything significant down for 5 days. What do we expect, huh?

After considering taking him back to the ER last night and after talking with our doctor's colleague who felt he should be OK at home, we elected to stay home. But by this morning Bob was even weaker, though still sipping liquids. He hadn't urinated from 10 p.m. last night. As weak as he was he remembered names for me and spelled words and joked when given on opening. We got an appointment to see our own doc at 3:30 today and as soon as he saw him he was quite concerned. As he was examining him, Bob noted, "great tie/shirt combination." When I told our doc that I needed the people with the IVs to take care of him for at least 24 hours I got no argument from Ron Dennett. He sent us over to the ER.

We got to the Lawrence Hospital ER by 5 PM, got in at 7 PM and finally got an IV started by 8! After our doctor was in and consulted with the ER doc, we got him admitted tonight with an IV and potassium. When I left he seemed content and said that he knew he was in good hands and would be fine. I plan to be back there at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Thank you all to whom I wrote earlier for your good wishes. Having left him in the hospital I am broadening the circle a bit. But please know that this is the right treatment for his present condition and that we have every expectation that in the next 24 to 48 hours he will be able to return home to gradually return to eating and getting stronger. Surely God is hearing all the prayers for this humble man who, as miserable as he feels, just says "tell them to pray for someone who needs it more."

The sun will come out tomorrow.