More Crap Different Day

Well the hits keep coming and it is only natural to ask "how much can one person stand?"  Apparently the answer to that question is "quite a lot" because to coin a popular 60's advertising phrase ~ Phil takes a licking and keeps on ticking.


This morning found him admitted to Alvarado Hospital's 3 South with very high blood sugars, dehydration and nausea and vomiting.  The last 48 hours have been brutal to say the least and absolutely heroically endured.  Phil had been struggling with nausea that barely responded to his medication, dry heaves and vomiting and the discomforts that come with blood sugars in the 400-500 range (normal being 80-120).  He's had no appetite, was dry mouthed and thirsty all the time and couldn't sleep. Incidentally, every bone in his body hurts, he's stiff all over and unstable when walking too.  Sheesh. Brutal, brutal brutal.


Dr. Kossman checked Phil over thoroughly this morning and ordered an MRI of Phil's head to check on the status of the mucor, a chest xray and blood cultures to rule out infection as an additional cause of the high blood sugars and a whole host of labs.  (As of this post his MRI and chest xray are unchanged from previous).  Phil has a slightly enlarged liver which could be from progression of the lymphoma ~ we won't know that until he has a CT scan of his abdomen tomorrow.   This could all be secondary to the Campath so it is on hold indefinitely until things settle down.  The first priority is stabilizing the blood sugar and returning his metabolism to a normal state.  He will have one on one nursing with an IV insulin drip and hourly blood sugar checks until his blood sugar is normalized.  Each hour the sugar has been coming down and he has felt better with the fluids, well enough to eat some of Alvarado's fine fare.  


Unfortunately, his platelets and hematocrit are very low and he will be getting both platelets and RBCs today.  This is either a result of the Campath or from furthering disease in the marrow - a real shit show either way.  Fortunately we live in an age of pharmaceuticals and transfusions so with a little tincture of time and some good nursing Phil will be feeling about 500% better than he did this morning.  I plan on bugging out of here soon to get some much needed sleep for a few hours then I'll be back in the morning to see what's transpired.  Lord willing, there will be a bit more breathing room.