Venting

Noellesmom said:

Not to be too simplistic

But what are they giving for nausea?  And are they offering bags of fluid for the purpose of preventing dehydration?

They gave him some pills for the nausea, but they don't really work well. When he was in the hospital for 3 days they constantly gave him IV fluids, and when he was discharged they just told him to "drink a lot". Well, it's easy to say but not so easy to do when your stomach threatens to reverse itself. 

Tomorrow morning we see the oncologist. I'm going to ask her if there's a patch or something stronger she can give him for the nausea. I'm so afraid he'll end up dehydrated again and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it, other than harass him to drink and push fluids at him. 

david54 said:

Hi Sharon. There should be a

Hi Sharon. There should be a patch that can give better relief. But more than that, I hear your frustration and fear. I understand what you mean when others give platitudes, albeit we'll intentioned. If I had a dollar for every person that has told my wife about a secret healing diet from cabbage crushed with rabbit pellets, to a healing shaman who can sweat the cancer out of her body, I'd be richer than one of our bombastic presidential candidates.

 

David, exactly right! I hear "have you tried drinking...." everything from turmeric to peppermint tea to chewing raw ginger. What don't they understand about the fact that I can't even get him to drink WATER at times, let alone chew raw ginger! Or that anything they could suggest, I've already thought of.

I get it, they mean well. But I'd rather they stop giving suggestions. Sometimes "I'm sorry your'e going through this. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know" would be much more acceptable and appropriate.

Hussy said:

Sharon -- given how much more

Sharon -- given how much more hands-on and better informed you are about your husband's illness, I can appreciate how irritating it must be when others offer unwanted and unhelpful advice. 

Please keep us posted as you can. 

The oncologist gave him a prescription for the scopalamine patch. Hopefully that will quell the nausea so he can eat and drink. He has an eye exam scheduled for tomorrow and a CAT scan next Wednesday, and then sometime after that he'll start the new meds. Trying to hang in there. Thanks everyone.

Noellesmom said:

Scop patch

Will probably make him too sleepy at first to see much of an increase in eating but you will.

Try to get an Ensure or Boost in his diet at least once a day.  If his appetite gets too low, there is a medication called Megestrol that will stimulate his desire to eat.

Hydration does not happen without salt so Gatorade is also a good idea.  Failing that, shaking some salt in his hand and eating it will work.

It's little things all the time, I know.

The scopalamine patch had mixed results. While it's helped with the nausea, he had some other side effects and had to stop using the patch. The good news is that he's started to eat again, albeit small amounts, and the gatorade does seem to help quite a  bit. He doesn't like the taste of it, but too bad, he needs it.

The latest aggravation is hearing that he might not be eligible for the new clinical trial they wanted to start him on because of some t waves or something like that on his EKG. So tomorrow they're going to redo his EKG and then we'll talk to the oncologist and see what's what. In the meanwhile our daughter, who lives in Massachusetts (we're in NJ), is in the hospital because of severe vomiting. She had the flu and then the stomach flu, and can't seem to shake it. We can't even go be with her because our plates are beyond filled as it is. It's always something!

Anyway, never wanted to be one of those people who complained all the time but you know what...we've EARNED the right to complain!