Friday, April 16, 2010

His worst pain

BR is hurting something awful today. When the hospice nurse came out this morning to check on him, he was running a low grade fever and sweating profusely. Despite drinking quite a bit of water, he's not putting out much urine, and what's there is turning brown. Also, like two years ago when he had the abscess in his mouth, he is beginning to struggle to comprehend his surroundings, and he is repeating even the most simple of thoughts dozens of times.

The urine culture taken earlier this week showed only the colonized bacteria, not anything growing out of control. His lungs are clear. His skin isn't yellow. So where on earth is this infection hiding? The doctor has decided to take the "big hammer" approach and start IV antibiotics this evening -- twice a day for 10 days. Since hospice is administering them, he will be allowed to remain at home. Nothing drives home the fact that BR is really sick like 20 IV balls in the fridge.



The PICC line nurse just left after an 80 minute procedure to insert the IV catheter. He also got a peripheral IV line, which will be used until an X-ray can confirm the catheter placement. She also taught me how to flush the catheter -- really pretty easy. The hospice nurse should be here any minute to draw blood and start the first antibiotic ball.

4 comments:

soulful sepulcher said...

I am sending peace to you. I have been with you via this blog, and am keeping all in my thoughts and prayers.

Cranky said...

Steve - the IV antibiotics are bound to give BR diarrhea (just mentioning in case you hadn't thought about this already). When Skip was on 28 days of IV antibiotics, we used Klaire Labs ABX Support, which is specifically designed for use with antibiotics to help get Skip's diarrhea under control.

So sorry to hear BR is having such troubles.

Unknown said...

Steve, thank you for making the time to share. I read these entries and find myself sitting here reflecting on the seemingly unending challenges of Multiple Sclerosis versus the power of love.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick

Kim said...

Are there any further tests to be done to locate the source of the infection? What's the next step? Fingers crossed that this works.

Love to both of you,
K