Monday, 23 July 2007

its monday, lets have an update!

well hello again, today is monday the 23rd july, and as usual things havent gone swimmingly, jack finally got actual time slots on the hemodialysis ward, mon, wed, fri til 9.30pm, not the best shifts in the world, but at least he has them, since the last update i did jacks blood pressure has been getting higher and higher, and the ward have said it is because he must be retaining fluid, as his weight is higher than it was in november when he started dialysis, but in november he was skin and bone so in my eyes(and i'm no doctor) i would say jack has out real weight on, not fluid, it has been 8 mths after all, but no they dont listen to our opinion, and reduced his dry weight on the dialysis machine, this made jack ill, really light headed, tunnel vision, sickness, we both told them, but the next time he went they did the same! it felt like talking to a brick wall, so rather than trying to find out why his blood pressure wasnt going down even though they were taking extra fluid off, they just kept on pulling off more fluid, it came to a point where jack got really upset and stressed out as he knew each time he went on the machine he would end up ill, so he didnt want to go on, he had a banging headache that was continuous, painkillers wouldnt get rid of it, due to it being down to pressure.
then last wednesday things came to a head, jack went for his dialysis, i got in from work and hadnt noticed the time and the phone rang, it was jacks dad, asking if he was back and ok? no he wasnt, but he should have been home in the next 10#15 mins and if not i would ring and see where he was.
a few mins later the phone rang again "is that jacks partner?" by the voice of the woman and the tone of her voice i knew it was the hospital and jack wasnt well, she told me that the doctor wasnt happy with his blood pressure and wanted to admit him as it was dangerously high, it was 10pm, so i rang jacks dad and we went upto the hospital, he was in a bed and looked terrible, his blood pressure was so high they were worried about him having a stroke and the affect it was having on his heart due to the strain of the extra pumping, and guess what! he was severly dehydrated too! which i had been sying all along, now as i said before i am not a doctor, but when you live with someone 24/7 you tend to know when they are ill, and as jack has been hospital with dehydration before i knew the signs, i knew they were taking too much fluid off on the machine and his blood pressure being high must be down to something else.
so we sat with him till 11.30pm the doctors had him on a drip and on a syringe driver for some medication to help reduce blood pressure, it was a matter of waiting.
i didnt sleep that night, i tossed and turned, i went back in the morning with a few bits for him, granted it wasnt visiting time, and boy did the nurse let me know that! i was only dropping off his tablets, as they didnt have any! no consideration to the fact that he was brought in late the night before and we were worried about him, so i left the tablets and went, i went to work, i felt like crying i just remember the doctor saying they were worried about him having a stroke, i was dreading the phone ringing with horrible news, i finished work an hour early to go and see him, i'm not sure how i got through work that thursday really.
he was still ill, and he got upset cause he was worried, his potassium was also low, a few weeks ago it was too high, so someone did a good job of monitoring that! (yet again)
he didnt have a good night his head was getting worse he could barely open his eyes, i didnt sleep at home and was shattered, i got to work at 9am to see my boss on the friday, my boss asked how things were and i burst into tears explained about the stroke thing etc, and i was told to go and be with darren, i went to see him and take him some drinks, better than warm water in a jug! his b p was still the same, 188 over 117, i went back that evening and sat with him none of us knowing what they could do, or what they would do or what would happen next.
i went home really tired, again i didnt sleep, my parents decided to come down to see mt the next day and come and visit jack with me.
we were getting ready to leave and the phone rang, it was jack himself! he could come home until monday! wow. so i shot upto the hospital, his head was loads better, the reason it got worse was because the syringe driver he was on for blood pressure caused headaches and should not be used for more than 24 hours, he was on it for nearly 60 hours! oh it makes me so mad, the renal speciallist was horrified that he had been on it for more than 24 hours and said she want surprised his head hurt so much! so she took him off it, his head eased instantly, and they started him on diff bp tablets, he was on 4 already and said i could monitor him at home, if his bp went over 190 over 120 to bring him back in, so we did just that, in fact he has just done his bp now, 182 over 112, but we are due to go back in today and see the doctor have his dialysis and see what happens and she will decide if she will need to admit him again or let him home, i'd rather he was home, but if he is poorly then hospital is the best place for him, i think, i really dont know anymore, so much has gone wrong that shouldnt, that i am starting to loose my faith! i will update you all later to see how it goes.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

keep going, i know it must be hard, hope it all goes well, i will keep checking for updates and wishing you and your family all the best x