Super Bowl Weekend ~ Conrad Style

Wouldn't you know it. Yesterday, the day before the "Big Game" (the one in which the Steelers beat the snot out of Green Bay while Phil waves his Terrible Towel and yells like a mad man) he woke up feeling horrible ~ nauseous and wrung out. By midday he had thrown up and by the evening he'd only put a glass of water, a grape Popsicle and a few ice chips into his system.  Despite world-class care and a lot of thought put into anticipating what might happen this time around, things just weren't going smoothly post-chemotherapy for Phil ~ again!  His fluid intake just wasn't gonna get it done so I had to pack him off to the ER for IV hydration and better anti-nausea meds.  


Alas, the great folks at Alvarado did an amazing job for us once again. Dr. Kai Zu was fantastic as our on-call doctor and gave us several excellent options to think through before we chose to head out to the ER.  As I've mentioned before, at this point in Phil's journey he is something of a celebrity and when Dr. Zu called he already knew the high points of Phil's case.  Until you've walked this long road you won't know what a gift that is.  I was spared from having to repeat Phil's entire medical history and because we are now both known entities, I didn't have to qualify my judgment of the situation from a medical perspective either.  This is truly priceless, especially when one's husband is teetering on the brink of literal existential nausea. 


Once in the ER we saw our nurse Joanne from 3 months ago when Phil came in with his horrendous spinal headache. We remembered one another and she reminded us with a wink that we weren't supposed to come back to her ER ever again. Oops.  She cared for both of us with the same warmth and commitment as before and we were made to feel as if were her most important patients of the night, made to feel like family.  When she told us of her desire to become a Nurse Practitioner, Phil, like usual, was quick to encourage and compliment her even though he continued to struggle with uncontrolled nausea as he did so.


Fortunately, his labs were all normal except for some dehydration and his problem was just that ~ being a quart low on fluids.  After 2L of normal saline and some Kytril for nausea he started to look better even though the nausea would hang on for the rest of the night.  We eventually made it home after only 4 hours there and were home in bed by 11:00 p.m.  That's got to be some kind of record for a complicated chemotherapy patient with dehydration, nausea and vomiting!  Good work Alvarado ER is all I got to say.  


Thanks to all of you who followed my posts on Facebook last night and were praying.  This morning finds Phil slowly gaining ground.  He started with ice chips and has progressed to Popsicles.  Later we've got Top Ramen on the bill of fare.  Good times ahead for this unforgettable Super Bowl Sunday I can assure you.  At this point, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that his first act this morning was to change into his Pittsburgh Steelers 2010 AFC National Champions T-Shirt.  There's plenty of fight left in the old boy yet!