2002 Story Set
| September 1, 2002 My younger son, soon to be 21, is back in the hospital and battling pneumonia. He is not eating, which, after 12 days is causing problems. He refuses to eat - so of course he is now having cell leakage. The fluid goes in and does not come out. I noticed this yesterday, puffy hands, puffy feet. He noticed it in the shower. "They made me fat" No dear, the fluid made you fat. From 106 KG to 111KG. Oh yeah. Albumen and then Lasics will be tried. Albumen was done yesterday to no effect. What happens when you have poor nutrition. Meanwhile, I have to get some protein into him. Hot Chocolate? Cheese? Perhaps the need to eat will resurface when the fluid overload goes down. Meanwhile, he was laboring to breathe today at 2:30 while I showered him. O2 needs to stay on. He goes from 1.5 liters to 5. X-rays require three of us, me with the chair, someone with the O2 tank, and another with the IV pole. And a shared arm for the SAT monitor. A full production. He sips Mountain Dew - Code Red. On ice. He has chills and fever. At least the chills no longer hit so hard I am afraid that he will break his teeth. The fever spikes to 39.5 and then runs back down. Friday night he spiked and then slowly dropped all the way to 35.5. He soaked the bed sweating out. I showered him at 1AM. Then I staggered home. I was elated. We thought he had broken the back of this pneumonia. Not so. Yesterday he was up and down. I was on thermostat and then ice runs. Warm blankets and then everything off. Today I came in early and got my head bit off. The boy needs FOOD! Teenagers are horrid when they don't eat. (He insists that he will be 17 until he is finished with chemo.) But he won't eat. He won't get up and walk (not that I blame him after watching the breathing problem in the shower.) The doctor promised to rip his bed out of the room. He won't use the breathing device. I offered to teach him to drive the truck in the mall in the early morning hours if he would. He is still coughing a lot. He threw up when he spiked right after his shower. It is now 5PM Sunday and I am wasted. Four hours sleep per night. Racing back and forth. Time at home is run laundry, sleep, feed animals, shop for whatever (soda today for him and Lactaid for me) and drive, drive, drive. I had a monthly pass - parking card for the recently installed security gates. It does not work. At 2AM, every night, I have to buzz security toi let me out. Have to have the gate attendant let me back in. Worse than the parking ticket-one time pass routine I have been doing. Five weeks into my new job, and I am struggling, I want him stable before I go to work on Tuesday, since Monday is Labor Day. I worked at home last Monday and Tuesday. A struggle. I had hoped to be over that. I was into a two-noontimes at Gold's Gym and the weekend session at 24 Hour Fitness. I need that. Or I retain fluid! I have raided Blockbuster. Five movies and slew of tapes from home. Anything to distract him. |
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