Gracie's pain seems to be subsiding somewhat. She is still not herself and needs pain medication fairly regularly. Her right eye bothers her and she has a hard time opening it (but can open it if she works at it). She has learned to hate her eye drops as we need to pin her down and force her eyes open to give them. I know they are helping so we keep at it but it is not fun to see her hurt. It is always nice to see her being so pleasant with the nurses and doctors though. She explains to them how her eye hurts and also lets them know how to check her blood pressure and temperature.
Chemotherapy was started at about 9PM last night. Gracie slept through much of it. At 11PM she was disturbed and became quite perky. She wanted to watch movies and talk to everyone in sight. By midnight she was asleep again and slept quite well the rest of the night. They had finished the infusions prior to midnight and were just giving fluids. She had 1 hour of carboplatin and 1 hour of etoposide last night. After the etoposide they require 2 hours of fluid infusions. She remains attached to the infusion pump for the entire time she is admitted and so has a little bit of fluid being infused when not being given any drugs.
One of Dr. P's residents came and spoke with us yesterday. She confirmed that while Gracie's eye has swollen more than usually they are not terribly concerned about it as the swelling will subside and her eye will be fine. She also said that she thought the pain was largely due to the stitch on Gracie's eye. Apparently one stitch on the eye ball can be quite painful. The resident also mentioned that the swelling may get worse for a couple of days and may last for a week or so. We hope that the pain goes away much sooner than that.
All of Gracie's doctors and nurses have been excellent. We have truly been blessed. We continue to pray for Gracie's health and speedy recovery. We are grateful that the chemotherapy has been effective on reducing the tumors in Gracie's left eye and continue to pray that the drugs will effectively treat all of her cancer so that she can keep her right eye.
Thank you all for your concern and love. You continue to give us strength and hope.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
About having issues giving eyedrops-
I would suggest having her close her eyes. Place the drop near her tear duct. When she opens her eyes, the drops will roll in and it should be much easier to administer them once she gets used to this procedure.
You and your family are continually in my thoughts.
Post a Comment