Tuesday Morning

“Mom…Mom…”

Its 6:00am and I jump out of bed and run to the next room.

Satomi’s awake and speaking.  I’m surprised but not shocked since her bedtime meds have been reduced, this was a distinct possibility.

She’s thirsty and her back hurts.  We give her water and she dozes off again for a short while.  I return to bed.

Moments later I am summoned back into the room.  There are already signs of agitation-“move me, I want to sit up, roll me over”, and on and on.

Her Fentanyl patches are suppose to last for 72-hours and it’s been about 57-hours.  History has shown that they usually last for only 60-hours so its close enough.  I give her 0.25mL of Oxy for the immediate discomfort.

I roll her over and she groans in pain, “…my neck…back…ankle…”  Her entire body hurts from being in bed for nearly two-months.  I wedge a pillow between the bed and her back to hold her in place.  Instinctively she pulls it out several times and tries to roll back.  I swap out her patches and give her morning medication.  I carefully roll her back into place.

She hasn’t been this lucid in weeks and I want to reassure her:  There’s nothing to worry about and I’m here with her.  I kiss her about a dozen times and I hold her hand.  Sedation is right around the corner and I may not have another opportunity to express myself.  She smiles and repeats the same.

I give her juice, half a cup of yogurt, and 6-ounces of water.  It goes down quickly but some of it comes back quickly too.

We have a dry-erase board conversation about her and the pain.  I show her the blog pictures and she smiles.  The Hawaii pictures provoke the biggest smile.

We talk about the past week and all her sleeping.  I am concerned that during the awake time, she is conscious enough to be sad.  She says things are OK and there was no pain.  I was very happy to hear it.  I explain the possibility of needing to sedate her in the near future.  She nods and I change the subject to our girls.

A minute later, she gets a small headache and tries to control the pain with deep breathing.  I administer another 0.25mL of Oxy, hold her hand, and she dozes off.

4:30pm UPDATE:  I went to the office for a couple of hours.  On the way, I called Irene and Brenda to tell them of Satomi’s excellent condition.  Irene drove over almost immediately.  They had a nice visit for nearly the entire morning.  By my return at lunchtime, Satomi had already returned to sleep.  No further drugs were given while I was away.  She’s still sleeping now.

9:30pm UPDATE:  She slept soundly until 8:30pm.  We gave her another juice and a bit more water.  Today was the most fluids she’s had in over a week.  I prep her bedtime meds and we talk a bit.  I told her that if she’s feeling good again maybe we can see more visitors.  She nodded.  I gave her the meds, a goodnight kiss, and she closes her eyes for the evening.  I opted to keep the medication the same as previously.  She may awake early but we’ll all forgo a bit of sleep to have another day like today.