On her vitals check, we see that she is down to 101 pounds, about a five pound loss since last week. She is eating several normal meals each day and has a couple of scoops of ice cream as dessert. Pulse and blood pressure were a bit high but still within normal range.
Overall, the PA said that she looks as if she is doing well and her breathing is good. He then quizzed us about how often we've been doing her PleurX drains. We had our chart and showed him that we've done her right side twice and had not done the left side since she wasn't feeling any pressure yet. (This is the protocol that the nurse had recommended). He said that to avoid having the drains clog, we need to drain both of them every three or four days until output diminishes significantly. His departing instructions were for us to go home and drain both sides today.
According to our instruction DVD, you should drain each side at least five minutes but not more then fifteen minutes or until you reach 1000cc total fluid withdrawn. When we started, the right side drained without incident or pain and only produced about 20cc of pleural fluid. The left side was a very different story. As soon as we started the drain procedure, she began experiencing sharp pain in her left upper chest and back which went on as long as the fluid was being removed. At thirteen minutes, we shut off the drain bottle at 150cc of fluid.
We are hoping that she will bounce back to her old self after a good night's rest but we are not looking forward to the next draining session over the weekend. Please be praying with us that the next session will not be as painful as this one. I want Cheryl feeling as well and as strong as possible when she goes in for her next round of chemo on October 1st.
Thank you for the specific request! I will definitely pray that the next draining will not be so painful and that Cheryl will be strong and feeling well when she goes on Oct. 1 for her next chemo treatment. It is my hope that the left side was so painful because it had not been drained but will now not be painful since it has been drained. :>) I am so thankful that our God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think and I am trusting Him to do this for you guys!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl and Jud. I'm so glad that you're up and around some. I know that helps a lot. I'm sorry the drain was so painful though. As I said earlier, I thought I had a cold but now I think it was probably just a mild sinus infection. I'm feeling much better but my students have been passing around a stomach virus. Three of them have been sick so far so I'm afraid to come near you because of the kids I'm with every day. Just know that we continue to pray daily for you and you're on our minds often. I'm so glad of this blog to stay in touch. In His Amazing Grace!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the continued updates. We pray daily that Cheryl has a pain free day and that the two of you are able to spend some time together. I am glad that Cheryl was able to get out and I agree that it gives you a big lift to get out. Also knowing Cheryl, she enjoyEd being able to do a few things around the house. We will pray that her appetite continues to be good and that the next chemotherapy will go as smoothly as the first. In our prayers......
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