Skip to main content

From Mat's Journal "You Say Dilaudid I Say Laudanum"

From Mathew’s Journal

I am leaving out parts that were already covered in the notebook about signing the release for the biopsy slides and the plan outlined by Dr G.

He had also made note of the case manager, the tech and his nurse.

Stent in liver maybe Monday not depend on stent inside.
Nothing Mon after midnight.
If can’t drain enough inside need to do from outside - like a catheter -not           
                permanent.
Stay on blood thinner for safety.
Pain Dr come today 
trying to get me outpatient
small % of having to re-do biopsy   ****

****They were concerned that the biopsy taken at Zhills would not be sufficient. I told them that the IR Dr showed me the large chunk he took. 
As it turned out, they didn’t need another biopsy. Later I called the IR Dr at Zhills and thanked him. If they had redone the biopsy when they had planned or hadn’t been able to diagnose when they did, it would have delayed treatment.
“Crunching the timeline.”

**Dr Knight  (pain and palliative doctor) check the amount of times button has been pressed to gauge levels.

*inferior ven cava collapsed.
*stent internal or external tomorrow no eating
     *may be doing exploratory laparotomy.
*may be debulked, but not removed.

-Dilaudid
   - 0.1 hourly release
could go up to .2 or .7  looking to get to .2
-Can't overdose - haven’t been overusing.

MEDS
Allopurinol    300 mg/daily
Fragmin  -  5000 units 1 x day
Colace - 100 mg 2 x day
Protonix - 40 mg 1x day  (IV)
As needed
    Xanax -  .5 mg up to 3x day
    Benadryl
   Temazepam  15 mg as needed
Dilaudid pain med  IV

Funny Note:
When they were talking about Dilaudid, both Mathew and I heard Laudanum.
After the Dr left he said, “I thought I heard them say Laudanum. at first.” 
“Me too,” I said.
Mathew said I thought I had gone back in time to the Civil War or something.


We both laughed so hard because it just struck us as so bizarre and funny.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

About this Blog, A Journey Through Sarcoma

Confections for Cats, A Journey through Sarcoma is a chronicle of my son's journey through Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Sarcoma. It is intended to educate and inspire by using Mathew’s thoughts and feelings, dreams and fears through a variety of mediums; art, music, and writing. Through factual experience, what we learned and what we wish we had known. Mathew’s desire was to give meaning to his journey and in the process help anyone else on a similar path. The last possible explanation in my mind for my son’s health problems was cancer. Even the words “the scan shows a large mass” didn’t lead me to conclude cancer and when the cancer diagnosis was confirmed, I still wasn’t prepared. My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and my sister Elizabeth passed away three years after her breast cancer diagnosis. I thought I knew what cancer treatment and living with cancer looked like, but none of us could imagine or be prepared for how all semblance of routine and normalcy had alre...

The Chemo Bell at Moffitt Cancer Center

Bells ring.  Bells, chime, toll, peal, resonate and resound. Bells foretell, warn and celebrate. The Chemo Bell The Survivor Bell Cancer Centers have one or several large bells, each with a large clapper. They are mounted on the wall and when a patient receives their last chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer they ring that bell. Mathew and I heard the Chemo Bell in the Infusion Center at Moffitt ring one time. Early on our journey. Everyone clapped and cheered. Mat and I stopped and looked at the bell that day and I thought at that time, it was a possibility for Mathew. Bells have a vibration. When a chemo bell rings, when a person survives cancer (even if it’s for a short time) they resound for the rest of us. Their survival reverberates and gives the rest of us hope.  I found another chemo bell on the 5th floor at Moffitt, in the hallway, past the patient rooms.  Next to the chemo bell was a copy of a photo of a patient surrounded ...

When a Cancer Patient Has a Medical Emergency

3 Days in the DRC, Part 1 If you haven’t read my first post about the DRC at Moffitt and how it works, since Moffitt does not have an ER, you can read about it here.  https://confectionsforcats.blogspot.com/2018/04/neutropenic-fever-after-ie-chemo-and.html In summary, the DRC is where an existing Moffitt patient is directed to go if they have a medical emergency.  Usually, we would be there a few hours or overnight (since we arrived at midnight or shortly afterward) until they had a room for Mathew on the ward. This particular visit Mathew stayed in the DRC three days. As mentioned in my other post, the DRC has maybe two rooms with a bathroom; otherwise, one bathroom for about a dozen patients. In Mathew’s case, a patient with a lowered immune system.  This time Mathew was in the room furthest from the bathroom.  When inpatient, we had a routine for getting him to the bathroom. First, he needed the IV unplugged (often quickly) and most times, I ...