2000
| October 22,2000 He's home and crabby. He came home last night after spending several days in the hospital. Within hours of getting on IV fluid, he was perky and eating. But now it is Sunday and my son has declared war. In short, no drugs, no walking, no nothing cooperative. Scrap the movies, Scrap the mall. He cries and complains and bitches and moans. He has pain in a side. Pain in his feet. Pain everywhere. Won't take the pills. Any pills. Threw up this morning. I would slip him Valium if he would take any meds. He wants attention. He doesn't want to fight the cancer any more. But I can't get far away - he finds a reason to call me back. And then tell me to go away. He won't listen. I try cajoling. I try shouting. He shouts back. This usually results in one of us laughing the other out of it. Didn't work. I turned off the TV. (Andomeda - a naked woman - cute!) Nothing was getting through. Damn stubborn. He "didn't feel well" but couldn't tell me what. In short, he is fussy and doesn't know what he wants. I left him alone and went to clean up the patio. I went out and sawed (by hand) a BIG tree limb from the neighbor's tree that hit the house - about gale force winds at the moment. I had spent 1-2 hours this morning sawing and dragging. I sawed and sawed and my arm hurts - scrap the gym. No damage - just a mess. And after I had spent all day Saturday mowing the front and back yards and cleaning up. The spa is full of leaves. No water, just leaves. I took down the umbrella and the awning before they were ripped down. I barricaded the gates - one is broken and was swinging in the breeze. The 50MPH winds had taken a limb off the neighbor's tree - and narrowly missed my window. I skipped the gym since my arm was now strained - attacking a 6" limb while balancing on a ladder and using a bow saw will do that. I lay in bed and did leg lifts instead. After 7 hours of this cantankerous behavior from my son - he broke down and cried. He finally let me put my arms around him and try to comfort him. I rubbed his back. I said I loved him. He is frustrated - aren't we all. The treatment is worse than the disease. (Not really but...) He is depressed (he is entitled to be). He explained, finally, that his side hurt every time he moves and he couldn't get up. A muscle sprain. It took effort but he got standing up and I put him into the wheelchair and took him to his room. I washed him from the waist up and got him into a clean shirt. I got the humidifier on. I had him settled. And then he threw up - everything he had eaten all day to be specific. Great. Here we go again. He still won't take pills (I could stop the pain with Tylenol or Valium but he won't take it). He won't take the electrolyte pills either - which is critical since he just puked. I talked to his doctor who said let it go a day. Just get him in tomorrow - thank God I am co-teaching so I can drive him in whenever. Meanwhile, he is resting. Feels better I think. Looks tired. While in the hospital, he would be up and alert one minute and crash asleep for an hour or two the next. I put new batteries in the walkie-talkies and he has buckets and tissue and drinks - water and Gatorade and &Up. I took a shower and ate something myself. Way off my diet. I want chocolate and wine. He is peacefully sleeping. I will check on him later and try to get liquid into him. Explains why he was crabby and cranky and fussy all day. What I want to know is - why can he eat while on IV fluid and can't keep food down at home? Because we are back to mucus and stuffy nose (humidifier should help). And not walking - where last night he walked out of the hospital and down to the garage and to the car. And then into the house and to his room. This morning he walked (in a huff) to the living room - and never moved again. Is it allergy? Which the 50MPH winds would not be considered to be helping. I want some answers. Fall has arrived in Fremont. |
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