Sunday afternoon Ray began feeling really bad - more than usual. He had been doing pretty good with getting enough to drink each day & his appetite seemed to be slowly turning around. That all began to change Sunday when he began having a lot of problems eating & drinking. What little he attempted just wouldn't stay down. And if the food or drink wasn't coming out one end, it was coming out the other! The poor guy was miserable. Needless to say he was quickly becoming dehydrated. Trying to keep down the pills he needs in his system was challenging too. There's one med that he needs that is in liquid form with the look & consistency of mustard, that is horrid. He literally gags just looking at that one. It was prescribed as an alternative to the one that caused his previous severe joint pain & it's the only alternative they have so I'm trying to camouflage it in puddings or other things that he can possibly tolerate, but that doesn't always work.
By Monday Ray was as weak as a kitten & we spent most of the day at the hospital as they tried to help him get re-hydrated & figure out what might be going on. His issues continued Monday night & he got very little sleep. Today (Tuesday) was another long day at the hospital as they pumped more fluids into him & discussed ways to approach his compounding issues.
One of the cultures they had done on Monday showed that he had indeed developed a virus that about 40 to 50% of transplant patients do develop. That may be what has triggered these recent ailments. And it may also explain the problems he's having in his GI tract. The pain he continues to have in his esophagus when he swallows may be related. So they have again switched some meds around to combat it, hoping it clears up the virus AND the other ailments. Time will tell. Basically it's all a guessing game sometimes.
When I went to the pharmacy to pick up the new med, I was told that insurance doesn't normally cover that med & if they didn't, the two week supply would cost us $4,900. out of pocket! Say what!!! The good news is that insurance did agree to cover it - Whew! So I am again changing the pills in the pill box today as even more adjustments are made.
Ray will need to have an Endoscopy done this week to view his GI tract to find out what's going on. The doctor suspects his problem with the pain in his esophagus may be more than the mucositis that occurred shortly after the transplant. That should have cleared up by now.
For those of you reading my blog here that do not follow me on Facebook, let me tell you what happened to ME last Thursday evening; I was enjoying a nice bowl of ice-cream that had peanuts in it. Went down really good but as I was taking my empty bowl to the sink, I noticed a back tooth felt really odd as I ran my tongue across it. Bottom line is that I either swallowed a crown or half a tooth! And wouldn't you know the dentist I use here was out of the office until the following week attending a dental convention.
Anyhow, I have a dental appointment Thursday to see what's to be done. Thinking I may just end up telling them to pull the rest of the tooth & be done with it. Now to figure out how to fit in my dental appointment around all of Ray's hospital appointments. For I have no doubt he'll have one that day. I just hope that if I end up getting my tooth pulled, that I can drive myself afterwards. I don't see why I couldn't. Oh well, I'll figure it all out. My friend Donna has agreed to help me out Thursday with getting it all accomplished. She can take care of Ray while I make it to that dentist appointment. Sure hoping that I don't have any problems if I end up having it pulled, cause if there's one thing I sure don't need right now, it's any more problems...
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