5-16-10

I appreciate all the comments while I was feeling bad.  I also want to thank Lisa for keeping up the blog while I wasn’t up to it.   And thanks to Terry for taking charge of Rachel and Ethan today.  He came all the way from Memphis to help out. 

Status:  7.5/10.  A lousy morning, started off with an anti-fungal drug for a fever I spiked last night.  The drug, called Ambisone, caused severe fever and chills, which had to be treated with Demerol.  Left me worn out and fatigued.  Then they had to give me platelets in preparation for another LP tomorrow.  I have lost almost all sense of taste.  Everything seems washed out, even water has that bland non-minerally flavor.   It makes it difficult to eat or drink anything.

Events:  They had originally planned to give me my anti-fungal medication late last night, which would have required four hours of infusion with frequent vital signs from 1AM until 3AM.  If there was a reaction to the drug, it would have occurred in the middle of the night, not a real good time to be dealing with immediate medical care.  I convinced them to do it in the morning instead.  Their idea of morning was 5:30AM, which would meant the entire scenario would take place in the middle of a shift change; probably the worst time to be dealing with a complicated medical reaction.  I convinced them to do it at 7:30AM instead.   Finally got over the side effects of the anti-fungal medication and the platelets about 1PM, leaving 3 or 4 hours to doze off to recover.    

Comments:  The inefficiency and poor human planning in a hospital still astounds me.  Most of the incidents and accidents in the health care system are not due to ill-intention but inattention.  Communication skills among the different health care professionals are poor and almost totally lacking.  If I weren’t on top of my case God knows what would happen to me.  A lone, lay person doesn’t stand a chance of getting out uninjured.  Before I received my platelets the nurse came in with my usual preparatory medicines, Tylenol and Benadryl.  I said, “You mean Tylenol and Zantac.”  She said, “No, Tylenol and Benadryl.”  I said, “I don’t take Benadryl.”  She said, “That’s what was ordered.”  We were now having an argument in the dark about which medicines I should be taking.

I told her I was allergic to Benadryl (an ounce of dishonestly saves a ton of explanation).  If I were delirious or somewhat impaired due to my drugs, sleep depravation, or other medical handicap, I wouldn’t have a chance. 

Tomorrow I’m scheduled for another anti-fungal infusion (which I am told will continue until my white cell count comes up), and then followed by another LP in the afternoon.  These last four days have been trying in a number of different ways.  I hope there is some daylight ahead. 

Love

-Bruce