Busy Day

I didn't get to OHSU until 9 this morning. Curt said Dr. Gross had been in earlier. He told Curt they were still considering chemo. Curt had lots of things going into him - fluids, "food" & 2 more bags of blood. They also disolve his medicine and give that through his Port. They put another IV in his arm for magnesium and something else. I think they will use that for his MRI too. Later in the afternoon they started a morphine pump for pain. The Oncology doctors want to get the pain under control. They will adjust the pump dosages as Curt uses it. A Resident Oncology Doctor Lin came in the morning and asked lots of questions and examined Curt. She came back with a colleague of Dr. Chui in the afternoon and ordered the pump. They are waiting to see what they will do next. Some Resident ENT Doctors also came in a couple times and didn't say or do much. The nurses were constantly in and out check Curt's "vitals" and the tubes. Angie was there from about 9:30 to 2:50. She had to take the girls to swimming lessons at 4. Our minister and Angie's minister also stopped by. A Speech Pathologist came and decided it was too soon to work with Curt on speaking and swallowing. Curt said it hurt a little to talk. I think that was mostly because of the feeding tube down his throat. They will stop giving him liquids at midnight tonight so that he can have surgery for a feeding "peg" in his stomach tomorrow. A "Discharge" lady came to talk about feeding Curt at home through this peg. She is going to arrange with Good Samaritin Home Health in Corvallis for someone to come to our house to teach me how to do the feeding "bags". The nurse will also check on the "peg". This will taper off eventually. The Discharge lady said that "Good Sam" doesn't come to the home after 1 PM. So when we leave here we will have to be home by then. That could delay Curt's discharge. We were hoping to leave on Saturday, but are not sure. An Occupational Therapist also came. She was impressed by Curt's strength and how handicap friendly our house is, and said she will "sign off" on him. She wants him to sit down while showering and dressing. Jef came after he got off work. We walked with Curt on a loop around the rooms in this section. The OT said he needs to get up or he might get pneumonia. He also gets up to use the bathroom. His bed has to be on an angle so that the feeding tube will keep the food going down. Jef and I got something in the cafeteria (the food is pretty good) and brought it back to the room to eat. Curt tried to get some rest. The night nurse (they do 12 hour shifts) said they would only do his "vitals" every 4 hours now. They also increased the flow of the "food". They have to see how he will tolerate it. Curt can pick his schedule for eating at home. Some people have the pump going for 12 hours over night and then have day off. I'm not sure about that. They took Curt for an x-ray about 5 o'clock so that he would be ready for his MRI (they have never done this before). They finally came to get him at 8PM for the MRI. I came home because this could take a little while. I hope to get there earlier tomorrow to what is going on.