We are making progress. He can lie flat, which he couldn't do earlier
because it caused great abdominal pain. Yeah!
He reported that his pain level this morning was zero. We don't know how much Fentanyl he was on at
the time of this report. He also asked to have the tv turned on. Another, yeah! While I brought books, he hasn't asked to
read any yet. He just called Damon on
his own initiative this morning. Another
first. Yesterday, he had some Jell-O. He
ordered a popsicle for this morning and downed the whole thing.
Baddish news: His back is killing him because he has been
lying in bed for so long. Mike says the
latest is that he will be here for about 2 weeks. He has an additional problem: because of some
chemicals produced by the body to heal the wounded pancreas, his bladder is
getting false information about a need to urinate. He was up every 15 minutes last night.
Goodish news: because Mike has to get
up so frequently and sometimes starts to get up on his own, he has been
assigned Sergeant Cherry to sit in our room and watch him ALL THE TIME. She's a
sweet lady, and it makes me want to cry he's getting such good care.
Funnyish news: Someone came in and
asked this drugged man if he knew where he was. He started into a long
explanation about his pancreatitis. I
said, "Are you in New York, Florida, etc.?" He finally understood the
question and responded with," I'm here" Sounds good to me.
Bad news: the nurse just came in
and announced that she had new orders that he was to be off all water and
food. It sounds like they are
contemplating surgery. It might be to
reduce the fluids or to start removing some of the dead cells from his
pancreas. They are giving him insulin. There is a good chance that his whole
pancreas has been destroyed, and besides meds to compensate for some of his
missing enzymes, he will be on insulin permanently.
We're hanging in there. He's adapting
well. Once I have trained him to call
for help instead of just moaning within my hearing and relying on me to get
help, I will go home, at least for a while. (No, he's not just doing this
because I'm here. He is reluctant to
'bother anyone.") He wants me to be able to go home. So I'm telling him I won't go until I can
trust him to take care of himself. So there!
