We finally made it home from the hospital around 7:30 PM last evening. It was a VERY long day, with a lot of the "hurry up and wait" processes that we've grown use to in the way medicine is currently practiced. Susan's mediport had a one-way clog and that slowed down the process considerably, and delayed the start of chemo. That delay, however, enabled us to see Dr. Rogoff in the hospital, which was very comforting to Susan. He's confident that the new, enhanced TPN he's prescribed will greatly help Susan over time.
Last night Bob the nurse came by to make sure we were still OK with the TPN process. Because Susan had had her glucose tested in the hospital she asked Bob to test it at home, since she's very concerned that the TPN might be inducing a sort of diabetes. Sure enough, the reading was high. As a result, I was off to Walgreens this morning to buy a blood glucose monitor, which the nurse Tanya instructed us how to use when she stopped by at noon. Susan learned how to do her finger prick, and take the reading using the fancy meter that I bought. Today, unlike last night, her readings were in the normal range. We'll keep an eye on it, but I'm hopeful that all will be OK in this area. Unfortunately, in the area of side effects from the taxotere, things were not OK today. Susan had a lot of nausea dispite the anti-nausea pills. Also, she experienced quite of bit of flu-like pain in addition to the usual pain associated with the disease. She's hopeful that these will all subside and she'll be up to attending church tomorrow. As always your prayers for her comfort--both physically and spiritually--will be appreciated.
Posted by John Dishman at June 28, 2003 09:19 PM