Duane here again. Ginger was taken off self-administered morphine this afternoon around 2:30 yesterday (Friday) and the pain got pretty bad. Kelty and Leah were by her side as she pleaded for help and relief, but there was not much they could do without approval from the RN (registered nurse) in charge of her case. Finally, after a couple of agonizing hours, around 4:30 in the afternoon, she was authorized to have a powerful narcotic given intravenously (I think it was Dilaudid) and that sedated her for several hours.
She did the "passing in and out of consciousness" thing for the duration until gaining full consciousness around 8:00 PM. The pain became very intense again, and we struggled to explain that we and the doctors and nurses were doing everything that could be done for the moment.
The problem was that Ginger's stomache had become very distended (bloated) and it was starting to cause more pain than her back! The abdomen was so stretched that it sounded like a drum when we or she taped it. It's a bit of a catch-22 situation because the narcotics she is taking often cause distension, but the distension is so intolerable that she needs narcotics. At one point, she threatened to leave the hospital and get her own medicine, even if she had to walk across the street in her skimpy hospital gown!
An orthopedic specialist and a radiologist came to investigate the cause of the distension. Finally, after some scans and a long nervous wait, we were able to determine with some amount of confidence that it was stool blockage and not necessarily anything more life-threatening. The doctors were very reassuring, and told Ginger that she wasn't going to die, which calmed her greatly, even though it didn't change the level of pain she was experiencing. Lastly, they ordered an enema and approved another shot of Dilaudid.
At 1:00 AM, as I waited outside her room, enema finished, and now returning to her bed, I overheard Ginger say, "I can't believe I would do this again!"
At 1:30 AM she was at last able to pass gas. I had never thought of passing gas as a privilege before.
Before leaving for our hotel room, I asked Ginger how she was feeling at 2:00 in the morning. She summed it up, "Gross, but not suicidal."
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3 comments:
Ginger our love---the sun is shining in Provo. Your canyon is calling for you as are we---so come home to it and us as soon as you can. Be strong today. Feel our love and energy. You can do this. We all LOVE you!
YaYa Rozan
Yay for gas! Or rather, passing gas! Never will she appreciate it again quite so much! Because I was connected rather closely to kelty and Ginger yesterday so many times in the afternoon, I stayed up really late last night until I felt her energy even out-lo and behold it correlates with Duane's note! Gosh I hope today is a better day and we've gotten over this hurdle!
Thank you Duane, Kelty and Leah for hanging in there and for keeping us informed! Now to keep our Gingy pooping and comfy. Please know you can call anytime. You are all constantly in my thoughts. Kiss Ging for us.
Sue & Sonny
oooh - i remember this nasty gassy problem from my surgery 25 years ago. so sorry you had to go thru it miss ging. but it WILL get better from here on.....
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