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Mom's chemo days
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were my mom's first days of chemo treatment for mixed small call and non-small cell lung cancer. By last night I was exhausted, having been up very early every morning to bus it out to her place and accompany her to the hospital. Each chemo treatment took about 3 1/2 hours, after which I went home with her again and did some stuff around her place before leaving her there to rest.
It was fatiguing, but I'm glad I did it. I saw that the Cancer Care nurses treated her very well, and that she was comfortable and well cared for during each session. (The nurses remarked to my mother that they were quite surprised and gratified to see me accompany her, since apparently adult children don't do it that often.) They covered her with warm blankets, brought her lunch every day, and kept up the spirits of everyone present with a gentle, humorous, and easy manner. Whatever they're getting paid, I don't think it's nearly enough.
On the third day my mom's kidney function tests came back normal, indicating that the chemo medication is being flushed out of her system nicely. She's been careful to drink lots of fluids and follow every instruction that Cancer Care has given her, though she's needed a lot of support from me to do so because she's been suffering mild to moderate confusion. We think it's probably because of the Dilaudid she's been prescribed for the pain, although her GP told me yesterday that the confusion could also be caused by problems with sodium or calcium levels. If the confusion gets really bad, I'm to bring her in to see her GP if it's a weekday and into the Grace Hospital ER if it's a weekend... though I hope it doesn't come to that.
It's very frustrating for my mom to be so mentally fuzzy -- she's been as sharp as a tack all her life -- and I really wish that I could do more for her than just give her mental and emotional support from a distance. But she doesn't want me to spend every waking moment with her, and I agree that it just wouldn't be very healthy for either of us at this point.
She'll be seeing her GP next Thursday, when he'll take blood levels on a variety of things. In the meantime, he agreed that my mother could, if she wants to, try taking half a Dilaudid tablet instead of a whole one; if the mental confusion improves and pain is still controlled, that might be a better way to go.
For the next day or two, until she gets a replacement for her alarm clock (which is malfunctioning), I have to call her to remind her to take every one of her medications. This allows her to get some sleep without worrying about keeping track of things herself. However, since her medication schedule runs from 5 am straight through to 10 am in roughly two-hour increments, it leaves me little time to get any kind of sustained rest. Fortunately George was able to pick up the calls overnight and into the morning, so I was actually able (aside from a couple of interruptions for questions) to sleep non-stop from 11 pm last night to 3 pm today.
Today I'm still very tired and full of anxiety and frustration, but only have a couple of bits of running around to do (and even those I might put off until tomorrow if my friend Terri is willing to spend a few more minutes helping me out with the loan of her vehicle). Right now the idea of just kicking back and watching a brainless slasher movie sounds really, really good.
It was fatiguing, but I'm glad I did it. I saw that the Cancer Care nurses treated her very well, and that she was comfortable and well cared for during each session. (The nurses remarked to my mother that they were quite surprised and gratified to see me accompany her, since apparently adult children don't do it that often.) They covered her with warm blankets, brought her lunch every day, and kept up the spirits of everyone present with a gentle, humorous, and easy manner. Whatever they're getting paid, I don't think it's nearly enough.
On the third day my mom's kidney function tests came back normal, indicating that the chemo medication is being flushed out of her system nicely. She's been careful to drink lots of fluids and follow every instruction that Cancer Care has given her, though she's needed a lot of support from me to do so because she's been suffering mild to moderate confusion. We think it's probably because of the Dilaudid she's been prescribed for the pain, although her GP told me yesterday that the confusion could also be caused by problems with sodium or calcium levels. If the confusion gets really bad, I'm to bring her in to see her GP if it's a weekday and into the Grace Hospital ER if it's a weekend... though I hope it doesn't come to that.
It's very frustrating for my mom to be so mentally fuzzy -- she's been as sharp as a tack all her life -- and I really wish that I could do more for her than just give her mental and emotional support from a distance. But she doesn't want me to spend every waking moment with her, and I agree that it just wouldn't be very healthy for either of us at this point.
She'll be seeing her GP next Thursday, when he'll take blood levels on a variety of things. In the meantime, he agreed that my mother could, if she wants to, try taking half a Dilaudid tablet instead of a whole one; if the mental confusion improves and pain is still controlled, that might be a better way to go.
For the next day or two, until she gets a replacement for her alarm clock (which is malfunctioning), I have to call her to remind her to take every one of her medications. This allows her to get some sleep without worrying about keeping track of things herself. However, since her medication schedule runs from 5 am straight through to 10 am in roughly two-hour increments, it leaves me little time to get any kind of sustained rest. Fortunately George was able to pick up the calls overnight and into the morning, so I was actually able (aside from a couple of interruptions for questions) to sleep non-stop from 11 pm last night to 3 pm today.
Today I'm still very tired and full of anxiety and frustration, but only have a couple of bits of running around to do (and even those I might put off until tomorrow if my friend Terri is willing to spend a few more minutes helping me out with the loan of her vehicle). Right now the idea of just kicking back and watching a brainless slasher movie sounds really, really good.
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If you ever need help with a vehicle, remember, we are here too. You have my number?? I can email it to you if you dont.
Blessings
moi
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And I can't seem to find your number anywhere. Would you mind emailing it to anotheragentsmith at gmail.com?
Thanks again!
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