Full Time Nurse

Think I became a full time nurse today.  At least it seems that way.  John had an appointment at 1:30 to check his blood.  Chemotherapy is deadly on blood cells....and we hope it is deadly on cancer cells too.

Today was two weeks since the first chemo with the new drugs.  As we walk through all of this and learn, today was when things start to happen.  Well, they have.  John had been getting weaker since Sunday.  We had such a great time while Lauren and Jake were home, he just kept going.  But today, I could tell, he was losing steam, and losing it fast.

Before he had the blood check, he had a radiation appointment at 1 o'clock.  We arrived at the radiation appointment a few minutes early.  He was taken in right away and zap, he was finished and ready to meet with Dr. Ballenger.  She always meets with patients at least once a week and today was the day.  She talked about the cancer and how it was restricting air flow in John's lung.  Radiation should allow better air flow soon.  At least that is the plan.  She noticed he was looking a little pale and asked that we bring a copy of the blood tests Dr. Lee would perform, so she could have the info on file.

The appointment with Dr. Lee was immediately following the radiation appointment, so off we go.  My red headed girlfriend Watusi (with blonde highlights) was meeting us there to deliver a beautiful potted mum from our friend Mayhew.  And it was beautiful....and now gracing our fireplace Halloween scene.  Thanks Mayhew!

When we got to Dr. Lee's office, we were quickly taken to the "vampire room" for blood withdrawal.  But, now that John has a 3 lead PICC line, (which was installed during his hospital stay to allow easier access for blood withdrawal and delivery of meds) the process has changed.  We had to go to the chemo room for blood withdrawal.  While I was there, I questioned them on my responsibilities of maintaining the PICC line.  The 3 lines must be flushed daily and the dressing and caps changed weekly, they said.

When the home health folks came on Friday and Monday to train me and change the dressing, I was given different answers.  My concerns are having been told different things by the home health folks that came to "train" me.  When I ask a trained home health care professional a question that I think would be commonly asked, such as, "How often should the lines be flushed?"  "I don't know," is not what I want to be told.  After several more unanswered, or less than clear answers, I called our very competent nurses at Physician's East, in the chemo room.  With both of us having chemo, we have come to know them all very well.  Remember, I told you, it's like Cheers when we walk in.....everybody knows your name.

Anyway, they answered my questions and offered suggestions.  I will make sure the highly trained "health care professionals" do their job correctly when they return this Friday!  You can be assured my baby will have the care his is supposed to have.

Back to our original purpose, to get John's blood checked and X-Rays taken.  Blood work showed low hemoglobin and very low platelet count.  Platelets are those wonderful little fellas that cause your blood to clot.  Not having enough is very dangerous if something happens, so, John is now scheduled for a blood and platelet transfusion on Tuesday at 1 p.m.  While we were at Dr. Lee's office, they also took a blood sample that will be delivered to the hospital for cross matching so the correct type of blood will be infused.  That process must be done each time he has a transfusion because, having a transfusion can change the chemistry of his blood.  I didn't know that and I questioned why it had to be done everytime.  Seems as if you know what the blood type is, then, just hook him up and let'r rip.  Not quite that simple.  As I said, this has been a big learning curve for us and I hope it helps some of you too.  We can't all know everything, but we can learn more all the time.

So, we pull our wagon over to Pitt County Memorial Hospital to the Out Patient Services to get my baby gassed up with a few pints of "premium" soon.  Hopefully, that will help him and his body continue to heal from the negative effects of the chemotherapy treatment.

Stay tuned...
PCQ