Emergency Room 2

We have good days and bad days, some from the chemo and some from us.

The sisters came in on Friday and there was an air of love and reconciliation in the air. I prepared a big dinner and we all shared in it laughing and telling stories of good times. The two sisters that had been so far apart now seemed close. My wife tired and after helping her up and to bed I shared some moments with her sisters over a glass of wine. It was as though no storm had descended and a cloudless sky reigned.

The following day my wife was weaker and we visited a few places on a Sunday drive. It was nice but I could see her grow weaker. We stopped so she could have some rest and we sat on a park bench when she became ill, very ill. I helped her up and to the car and we packed everyone back in and drove home as quickly as possible.

Here is the thing, when you get fatigued the pain sets in and seems to increase. The pain becomes so great that you become nauseous. Once you are nauseous you can not keep medication for pain or water down so you become weaker and in more pain and then you become more nauseous and the cycle repeats.

We got her to bed and she had a fitful night with little sleep. In the morning she sounded dry and raspy and weak. I didn't know what to do so I called her oncologist. Then I called the infusion center and the ER. She needed liquids, an IV, probably some electrolytes and pain killers as well as nausea meds. We needed to get out in front of this wave, this tidal wave.

Doctors can not diagnose over the phone and without seeing the patient they can not get a feel for the extent of the problem. I realize that and understand that but it is still hard when the man in charge won't make a decision and leaves it up to the husband. "Well if you think she should go to the ER then she should go to the ER if you don't then she shouldn't." Sage advice. I wonder what I paid for that.

So I made the decision to take her in. Her sister the nurse traveled with us.

ERs are hard places to be and an ER on Sunday is sad and desperate. It is also a place where revelations occur and one occurred to me. A young lady was present and when it was her turn at the triage desk she was there for an earache which made her nauseous. She had no insurance and so was there with her small child seeking aid. How horrible that she needs to rely on an ER for that type of care and that she could not afford to get treated before it was at that point. We need to do something about that for compassion's sake if nothing else.

Back to my wife. We secured a room because she is one of the staff and so gets attention lavished on her in a manner that others can not get. They start her on an IV drip and she ends up taking nearly 3 liters over the next 24 hours along with potassium and other electrolytes. They also can not seem to get out in front of the pain and nausea. After almost two hours she is still in pain and feeling sick, in fact, throwing up. They finally hit her with dilaudid in a fairly strong amount. The pain lessens and she gets an anti nausea medication that also works in tandem with the dilaudid to make her quite euphoric. Then the anti nausea meds kick in and she begins to have a lowe blood pressure and her pulse rate declines somewhat. We are four hours into the experience and the afternoon is drawing to a close.

They decide that they need to determine if there is something they missed on a previous scan and so she gets a cat scan and x-ray of her abdomen. Then they decide she is staying overnight. Her sister decides she will sleep in the chair and my beloved slips into a peaceful sleep.

I exit after 8 hours in the storm and need to rive home to take care of my daughters, cook and get my little one into a bath then close the day. Tomorrow will come early once again.