Friday morning

I arrived at the hospital at around 6ish last night. Mom had just finished eating three tiny pieces of fruit. Any eating is good at this point.

Dee stayed with me for a while, and we both got to speak with Dr. Wasserman (Mom's fave). After Mom finished flirting, he watched her do the breathing stimulator and talked with us a little. He reported that the last chest x-ray is still the same as the prior. No more signs of pneumothorax and the haziness looks the same. I asked about her state of mind - confusion, delusions - when will we see an improvement? His feeling is that this is pretty normal. People having chemo react in different ways, plus she is getting a whole host of other things (compazine, dilaudid, etc) that can also make her feel confused and out of it. She should improve as drugs leave her system, although we know she needs to keep getting them, so I can only assume this will be the cycle for a bit. I think Dee and I felt a little better after that, and I called Jamie with the update. Dee went home to clear her head and get some rest.

The resident came in later and echoed Dr. W's feelings. She sees this confusion often, especially in older patients who don't always tolerate drugs as well. Plus, many people become confused just from too much time in the hospital.

Before Dee left, we ordered Mom some dinner. I thought chicken soup would be good again, because she can sip the broth, but surprisingly, she asked for Chicken Fingers!! Is her appetite coming back? We can only hope! She ate two tiny bites of Chicken dipped in Barbeque Sauce then one spoon of chicken broth before pronouncing that we was stuffed. It's going to take some time for her to feel like she can really eat again, but this is probably due to her liver still being swollen and putting pressure on her abdomen. That was the worst feeling when I had hepatitis A back in 1996.

Mom received pre-meds, then platelets with her BP remaining normal the entire time (amen) and then I finally drifted off to sleep at about 11. By 1:30 Mom had to get up to go to the bathroom, then again at 3 and 4:30. Unbelievably, she asked for something to drink (it's been like pulling teeth to convince her to keep her mouth moist) and she agreed to do the breathing stimulator all three times! It's been such a long time since the kids woke me so much, that I've really had a hard time getting back to sleep. A chest x-ray was just completed, so crossing our fingers for things to stay good.

I still can't believe she's been able to get up to use the commode through everything including the chest tube, but I guess that's her true personality coming through. I'm sure that using a badpan will be her very last resort. I think I can see an improvement in her strength tonight, which is a good thing, because I think I pulled a muscle in my back.