Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back

You girls who grew up in the '80s probably have Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract" in your head now, but I'm not talking a top 40 hit of our childhood, I'm talking about my mom's daily routine.

Sorry I haven't blogged since Friday morning- since returning to Boston I've been in constant contact with Mom and Coco, but haven't had the chance to write.

She's still in the hospital despite her discharge goal of this morning. Her nausea and dizziness continues to be a HUGE problem, so much so that she's been unable to eat anything of substance. She's vomited a few times, and has persistent diarrhea, which has made her team think that perhaps she has a bowel obstruction. Obstructions can be deceiving, because a patient can have diarrhea because nothing formed is able to move around the obstruction, and yet one might assume all is well because the bowels appear to be moving.

There is also some concern that she may be having an allergic reaction of sorts to her medications because no medications seem to be reducing the nausea. I don't really buy this theory, since she's on a pill form of Dilaudid, which is what was in her PCA for 24 hours, during which she had no nausea. In my book, the problems began when they removed her Scopolamine patch 72 hour after surgery. But who am I? Tomorrow I plan to talk to Dr. K and do some brain-storming. That's the tough thing about weekends...patients are passed off to a team who doesn't know the subtle nuances of the case the way their primary does.

Mom is frustrated, primarily because she had this idea that she would bounce back much sooner than she has. We keep trying to remind her that this will be a slower recovery, and the "do-er" in her needs to just get used to the idea that she will have to lay low for a very, very, long time.

Coco has been absolutely top notch, and even scored herself a visitor suite at the hospital so she can be near Mom. Their brother Thierry and his wife Julie stopped by for a surprise visit as well- just in time to pass her a bucket- but she really loved seeing their faces, none the less.

Tante Didi (Mom's Aunt) arrives tomorrow relieve Coco and take over for as long as she's needed. I don't know what we would do without family- I won't even entertain the thought!

For those who've called to offer rides, meals, visits, respit, etc. please know your offers will be kept in mind. We won't hesitate to ask for help when the time comes.

Hugs to everyone out there reading!