Emotional Day

It's been a very emotional day.  Aside from the physical aspect of this journey, the emotional side takes its toll as well.  There are so many things to work through.  I don't feel comfortable sharing those private moments, but trust me when I say they are heartbreaking.  The kind of stuff that rips your heart out and makes it so you can't even breathe.  In spite of how hard it all is, the tremendous feeling of love still overshadows everything else.  Love gets us through.

E.'s pain level sky rocketed today.  He'd be fine for about fifteen minutes or so and then it would just go through the roof.  After we watched this for awhile, we could take it no more and I told him I was going to find the nurse to get him more pain medication and he wasn't going to argue about it.  About that time, the doctor came in and saw how much pain he was in as well.  His Fentanyl pain patch was increased from 12 mcg to 25 mcg.  He was also given a shot of Dilaudid.  It helped a ton!

E. was then taken to go get the fluid drained from his abdomen.  They stuck a large needle into his side and began sucking.  Any guesses on how much they sucked out?  How about 5 liters?  Yes, FIVE LITERS!  Can you imagine?  That's 2 1/2 of of those two liter bottles of Coke!  And all that liquid was sitting on his organs.  No wonder it was making it a little difficult for him to breathe.  They estimated that liquid weighed at least ten pounds.  Wowza.  His oxygen saturation rate immediately improved.  So, having the liquid drained combined with the pain meds on board means he's in the least amount of pain he's been in in weeks.  Yay!!!