Monday, January 25, 2010

Geaux Saints!

The Hospice Austin team officially took over BR's care on Wednesday. We met with his nurse and care coordinator that afternoon, and immediately replaced his Percocet with liquid Morphine for break-through pain. This brought about a small amount of pain relief, but not nearly enough to be called success.

Next, we met with the hospice doctor on Thursday, who decided to switch BR from Fentanyl patches to Methodone for sustained pain relief. We made the switch Friday, and again pain was knocked down another notch. So on average, BR is still in a great deal of pain, but feels better than before.

The Methodone has brought with it a bit more drowsiness, but not to the point where BR can't wake up and enjoy the day. It will be interesting to see what happens as the dosage is increased.

My niece, Jordan, has rejoined us as of Sunday to help out once again with the daily caregiving duties. It wasn't a moment too soon, as I had somehow thrown out my lower back while making groceries Saturday evening. Luckily, BR was already in bed, so the next transfer wasn't going to be until Sunday for the morning routine. Maybe I would feel better in the morning.

No such luck. When I woke up, my back was just as bad, if not worse than it was when I went to bed. So I convinced BR to delay the morning routine until Jordan arrived. And like an angel, arrive she did. She immediately took care of BR, then joined us as we watched the Saints advance to the Super Bowl. What a great evening!

7 comments:

B ILL said...

3:27? Get some sleep!
The game was awesome.
I am sending vibes for pain relief for Bob and your back.

Herrad said...

Hi Steve,

Glad to hear that although BR is still in a great deal of pain that he feels better than before.

Hope your back gets better soon, sounds like you are lifting BR yourself which is not good for you

We have a til lift a hoist which winches me out of bed.

Get better soon.
Big hugs to you both.
Love,
Herrad

steve said...

Billy - Sleep? Huh? Oh, yeah. Sleep.

The back is already feeling better. It'll slow me down for a while, though. Funny thing is that I'm careful to use correct lifting techniques when I pick up BR. It was bending over to pick up a 5 lb bag of groceries that did me in. Most likely related to me being 3 stone (40 pounds) overweight.

kmilyun said...

Good the BR is in less pain and less groggy hopefully you guys will hit upon the right combo soon.

Take care of your back - evil grocery bags!

Jan

Cranky said...

Steve - glad that Jordan showed up in the nick of time, though it's a drag about your back. Keep us posted on the progress of the hospice folks.

I am heartily looking forward to the Saints beating those ^$&#^@*@ Colts in the Superbowl. It was also nice to see them beat Favre on what was probably his last NFL game (well, check that, in many ways the Vikings beat themselves, but the Saints reaped the rewards).

Anonymous said...

Your back problem reminds me of my bending over to get clothes out of the dryer and OUCH!!All of those back pains were in my younger years, there is hope for you yet!!!!!Sounds like hospice is going to really work hard to make Bob more comfortable!!!I agree, Jordan is an angel!!Thank her for me.Much love to all of you!!Dede/Mama

Z said...

Go Saints!! Even though their quarterback looks like John Boy.