Mom's blood counts are now crawling around on the floor. This was fully expected, but she is tired and easily overwhelmed. For a few days, she's asked to pass the word on to hold off visiting her in person. She can still take short calls and get cards, though, if you want to do it that way!
She's sleeping most of the time now. She's lost her appetite, so we're trying to think of goodies to tempt her with. She can only eat approved foods from the hospital (a side effect of low blood counts is she has to be very strict with food safety), but we're trying to encourage her to eat whatever sounds good. She'll need more protein as her blood starts to build back up, but for now we're just trying to get some calories in there. Fortunately she was eating really well last week, so a day or two of low intake shouldn't hurt too much.
A couple of friends have suggested that she can now get, shall we say, appetite-enhancing drugs (cough-THC-cough) but I can't think of how we might convince her that this is a good idea. That they are available in caramel cube form may help, though!
So, mom doesn't have any fevers or anything, and is doing as well as could be expected, and is in good hands. So we just need to wait for her blood generators to start turning back on and doing their job.
Watch for more updates soon. If you have any suggestions for tempting someone without an appetite to eat, leave them in the comments!
***UPDATE
Got an email from dad that mom started getting a fever last night (Monday). It's not high (101F), and she's started on antibiotics, and they're doing tests to focus the treatment more on whatever's trying to make an inroad, but results won't be ready until later today (Tuesday). Hopefully mom keeps calm and keeps sleeping and eating. Will post more soon.
5 comments:
Oncologists prescribe THC in pill form all the time because it helps with appetite, nausea and pain. They usually do not like to prescribe smokable pot because inhaling is bad on the lungs. From what I understand, the pill form of THC is not as mind-altering.Sending white light!
Thanks Lynn! I called dad to let him know that out here, the dispensaries also carry it in cookie and caramel forms. If we can convince mom to try it at all, though, it would most likely be in pill form. oh the irony!
Hopefully her appetite will pick back up on its own! Watch for more updates soon.
An RN suggested a pill containing marijuana to Fran today and got an immediate NO in response. She's dead-set against it in her body in any form. Oh well.
I would recommend sticking to the acronyms or just naming the active ingredient. "Fran, this THC will help with your appetite." would get a better result than "Dude, wait till you see what munchies you get after this bitchin' weed at levels so awesome you can only get it through a doctor!"
Sad to say I know a lot of people who would be really excited with offer B.
How's she doing now?
I had to laugh re: the comments here about THC. Just say NO!
Post a Comment