Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Timing is everything

He's almost done with the course of Vancomycin, I think...he could have possibly been out of here if not for the stupid C. Diff.

Last night, the nurse wasn't great at doing things to avoid waking us up. Grumble. We haven't had her before. Definitely not a favorite

I kept The Boy in bed, watching Pooh (which he requested as soon as he got up) because the nurse said that she was going to draw labs. Again, poorly timed. So she drew them while he was having yogurt and rice krispies.

Speaking of food, it is 9:15 and breakfast has not been served.

Our nurse today wiped The Boy's thermometer with alcohol before using it even though she knew it was only his. We're definitely on the same page. I asked her why it was that the protocol for infection control did not include shoe covers. Of course, we are careful about things on the floor but it is impossible to be perfect with it. Visitors remove or cover shoes; the staff doesn't, so why would they not cover them to prevent things going from room to room? The nurse agreed that it was a good question.

We havne't had this nurse before; she is chemo-certified but is avoiding chemo patients because she is trying to get pregnant. I happened to slip some cloth diaper propaganda into the conversation...griping about the expense of the disposables. Of course we have to bring our own to the hospital whereas if we didn't it would be cheaper, but still...it's astounding. Comparing that to reusable ones that can be used for subsequent kids, there's just no question.

Breakfast arrived now, and The Boy likes eggs and potatoes again. He actually ate some raisin bran and milk as well. Just a few bites, anyway.

His blood levels were pretty good today. Whites are way up so he'll be off neupogen. Platelets are fine, and hemoglobin is okay too. He got both of those twice during this stay.

Housekeeping also hasn't been here. It would be great if they'd come around the same time every day so that we could plan for it.

The nurse just told me that she is calling infection control today to ask about the shoe covers and also to ask about a better way to manage the diaper-weighing, because currently, the nurses take the diapers out of the rooms to weigh them, regardless of infectious or toxic status, and it would make much more sense to have separate scales and cans in the rooms. I never even thought of that--good thing she is the nurse today.

So that's where we stand today. Our niece was going to visit, but she said that her throat is sore and she's not sure if it is illness or allergies, so I told her to wait until tomorrow. That's all for now--sure to update later.

3 comments:

Heather said...

What an awesome nurse you have today. Keeping you in my thoughts.

JC said...

hmmm. we don't do shoe covers at our hospital. I've never seen those outside of maybe surgery. Not sure about diapers either, but I know they gave me some once when she was having accidents. We do have our own scales though for the diaper weighing. Although they are usually sitting on our fridge or by our food basket. :) Thankfully we don't have to use them though. Hope this stay goes by fast. I can't imagine being there as long as you....and pregnant! Hope you are hanging in there and taking care of yourself. I know it is hard though. Anyways, hope all stays well through the next chemo! How many more cycles does he have? Or is it just as needed?

Molly said...

This is chemo #7 of a 30 cycle regimen. So we're nowhere near done. Remember that he regrew tumor while on chemo the first time, which is why he is on this protocol.