• The Long Haul

    Monday, when I got to the room, I could tell Amanda wasn’t feeling good. She was nauseous and having a hard time getting her pills down. That seems to be getting worse. She also gets full quickly when eating and has been getting nauseous after eating. The cardiology was new this week. We still had…

  • A Slow Progression

    Amanda’s blood counts have been up; with the infection, everything was all over the place. Now that I have access to her MyChart, I’ve been checking things pretty regularly. One thing that we’ve been dealing with is a low white count and neutrophil, a specific white blood cell that helps fight against infection. Both,  after…

  • Sleepy Time

    Wednesday night, I headed home later than I wanted but at a reasonable hour. Early enough to grab some dinner, I went with Indian, not Amadna’s favorite, so I took advantage of eating alone to have what I like. I was even able to watch a show while eating and got to bed before eleven.…

  • A Rough Morning with a Better Evening

    This morning, when I arrived to the room, I could tell Amanda was in terrible pain, and the night didn’t go well. The nurse was giving meds, and I began to question the pain meds given overnight. IV pain meds previously available to Amanda were scaled back and were taken on the PRN, or as-needed…

  • The Knee

    Ok, I have a lot of notes from yesterday, but I’m going to hit the high points cause a lot has gone on. A lot happened while Amanda was at dialysis. While I was gone, of course, the orthopedic fellow showed up to aspirate Amanda’s knee and get a sample of the fluid around the…

  • A New Development

    I’ve been spacing my posts out as nothing new is happening daily. A back-to-back post isn’t good right now, but I feel we need a lot of prayer on this development. Amanda didn’t do well overnight. She’s had stomach issues for a few days and has been hurting badly since last night. Her temperature before…

  • Moving Along

    When I got to the room Saturday morning, there was a box of masks taped to the door with ‘please wear a mask’ written on the glass. I’d left the room yesterday, gone to the apartment, and come right back. I didn’t think my wearing a mask was going to protect Amanda much when we…

  • NPO Week

    This week should have been called NPO week. Monday through Friday, Amanda had to wait to eat until at least two or later each day. They’d plan to do something, then call it off in the afternoon, or she’d have a later procedure. Wednesday, she didn’t even get to eat; she had the cath then…

  • More Waiting, Then a Busy Day

    Tuesday was more waiting. They had Amanda NPO again, then allowed her to have clear liquids till noon, then nothing, eventually pushing the IVC filter placement till Wednesday! Any day waiting for the cath lab would be a frustrating day if you were a newbie to this. We were waiting for wound care and the…

  • Busy Waiting

    Even though I sleep through most stuff in the hospital room, I’m not sure I get quality sleep. I hear a lot and don’t get up or move. The cardiologist came early for rounds around 7 Sunday morning. I didn’t wake and don’t remember her and the NP coming. Amanda said the cardiologist, when she…