A Day to get the Blood Pumping!

Hello bloggers,

This is going to be a long post, as today has been somewhat drama filled, so if you need a break, go get a cuppa and pull up a chair... I will try to make this entertaining for you.

Last night was somewhat messed up, with us arriving at the hospital at 8pm, but taking till midnight for the nurses to finish giving him his meds (that we didn’t know he was having).

This morning we woke at 7am for Logan to have his anti-sick pills, then I quickly make him some rock solid toast (made with sandwich bread). Evan arrived on the ward at half past and we sailed down to radiation with the orderly. 

I can honestly say that we were all anxious and breathing somewhat fast, from the beginning to the end of the procedure... when in reality, it went quite smoothly. They cooked him for 15 minutes on each side with a short break in the middle (that’s left and right, not up and down).

After this we were given word that he needed to head to the heart department to have an echocardiogram (excuse the spelling it it’s wrong). We waited a while before and after the test, and the test took about 40 minutes.  But it was the old lady in the bed next to us that I felt sorry for.  She had been waiting an hour, hadn’t seen anyone, and needed to go to the bathroom!

Back on the ward at 11.30am (and no that’s not a typo), Logan was starving, so I made him and I both toasted sandwiches, and Evan headed back down to the house to do some word and eat lunch before meeting us again at 2pm for Logan’s lung function test.

At 1.50pm Logan, Evan and I headed down to the Respiration dept. The test was three parts. One involved him taking a large breath, and then blowing as hard as he could. Another involved him breathing fast, as we didn’t hear about the third one as that’s when the drama started.

On the way down the lift in his chair, he mentioned that he was not feeling great - Something about an uncomfortable chest, but nothing specific. When we got to the place, Logan was asked to sit in the special chair as the lady was explaining the tests.  Slowly the colour began to drain from his face and his lips.  I thought he was going to throw up, but he just said that he needed to get back in his chair and we helped him there.  He sat with his head in his hands and said he couldn’t do it.

Evan and I quickly took him back to the ward and told the staff. But he seemed fine.  We rescheduled his appt for tomorrow morning after Radiation.  Evan then headed back to RMcD house, and I went to the bathroom. When I got back, there was a nurse in his room. He had buzzed her because his heart was racing fast. A check of his sugar level showed they were fine. They hooked him up to the monitors and discovered that his heart rate was 135 and his BP was 60/35... and dropping.

All of a sudden Logan became quite popular... sometime during all this, I text Evan and he shot up to the ward. Doctors and nurses appeared from the woodwork and firstly set up drips, then changed their minds and just started holding the fluid above their heads and squeezing it into his hickman line manually.

At this point Evan and I became somewhat alarmed. The bottom of his bed was raised and they tried different cuffs and different machines to see if they could get better results.  Slowly his BP came up... Logan, during all of this, said he felt fine, and just had a racing heart.

The doctors consulted, and it was decided that today’s 2^nd TBI would be postponed till the morning, shunting all the TBI back a block, so that the last one would be Friday morning instead of Thursday afternoon.

We were told that when the nurses phoned the radiation department, all the staff there was gathered around the phone saying “oh... is he alright?’ and ‘tell him we said hi and will see him tomorrow’.  I have decided that he has become their little mascot!

Well, things have settled down now. I have just eaten Logan’s hospital dinner, as he is getting pizza from Canteen (their Tuesday treat). RMcD house has volunteers cooking again tonight, so Evan is bringing two meals up here.  We are very grateful to the staff and volunteers there and when this is all over, Logan and I want to do something for them, by either raising money, or organising a spring cleaning working bee. 

Well, if you’re still awake, I am proud of you... Logan may pop a post up later, if he is still has energy. His views are always so much funnier than mine.  Besides, he can’t do much else, cause he’s confined to bed till they stabilise him!

Love and hugs to all

Tracy, Evan and Logan