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Sep. 25th, 2012 10:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katyakoshkaSaw mom today. Started day off with all sorts of penny ante bullshit, on top of David staying up all night because Ty got up for the day just when he was ready to hit the sack, at which point he let me sleep as he continued to level since one of us needed to have enough sleep to safely drive any significant distance today.
We finally got going in early afternoon, David and Ty both sleeping in the car as I cruised to north SD county. When we arrived, my brother met us to show us the way in (it was a little labyrinthine). He and L. had both been there for a few hours at that point. Good things: Even though my mom wasn't up for eating this am, they've found a med for her severe nausea... Haldol, a.k.a., haliperidol.
I cannot make that up. Granted, it's actually fairly common in palliative care, and another dopamine agonist, Compazine, has been a common treatment for severe nausea and uncontrolled vomiting for at least a few decades--my mom, in fact initially received it as part of her post-chemo regimen for a while with Gemzar until they realize it was causing her severe headaches and neck pain. In fact, I didn't realize that Compazine was an antipsychotic until then, when my mom pointed out its relationship to Thorazine, having only heard of its use in terms of upper digestive upset. Meanwhile, Haldol, well, that's what one-armed Mike of Twin Peaks was taking. That's one of the older treatments for schizophrenia.
Yes, there was a bit of a double-take when the nurse told me that.
But, anyhow, I digress. Mom has a morphine pump and regular doses of Haldol, the combination of which seems to resolve most of her pain and all of her nausea, to the point that she ate several times today. I doubt the uptick in appetite will last long, but it does mean that she should be around long enough to return home once they've established a protocol for treatment. As long as she stays stable, she could go home later this week. It's almost getting to the point where it's like, "It's Tuesday, has Mom had her health crisis yet?" And the fact that Tuesday is the day in question is not lost on me as a point of perverse amusement.
So my plan is to go down Saturday, meeting up with KB/Andrea to sort through my mom's stuff, per her request. I think it's part of that recessional impulse of the dying to see as much resolved before death as possible--and maybe she wants to leave fewer reminders for L. so that he can get through each day a little more readily than not, especially in the bedroom where he'll still be sleeping for at least a little while.
Aside from all that, David and I had already planned last night to have dinner at Sushi & Joy, the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where we'd first met nearly 7.5 years ago. Apparently, they exclusively do sushi now, no teriyaki, etc.--not that anyone I know really went there for anything but the sushi. They do have some of the freshest salmon you will ever taste. We got there around 6, ordered some special rolls and nigiri, and in the middle of that, the head sushi chef waved to us, called us "#1 customers" and ended up telling some of the patrons at the bar how we had, indeed, first met here, later married, and now returned, five years since the last time we'd eaten there, with our son. We ended up with as much extra fish as sashimi on our nirigi orders as was on the rice, and 4-5 extra plates of food, including a broiled salmon collar. Oh, also, sake for toasting. It was very nice to feel so welcomed, and to be remembered after half a decade away.
Of course, all this unexpected generosity was punctuated by mostly-benign but still-wandering toddler. He didn't make much of a mess, however, and was pretty quiet for the whole meal.
So, yeah, things started looking up, overall, once we got on the road. David's landed in bed now, Ty beat him to sleep by half an hour, and I'm probably just going to relax for the next while. I have a new book (Cast in Peril by Michelle Sagara), and Mists of Pandaria, plus DVR recordings.
We finally got going in early afternoon, David and Ty both sleeping in the car as I cruised to north SD county. When we arrived, my brother met us to show us the way in (it was a little labyrinthine). He and L. had both been there for a few hours at that point. Good things: Even though my mom wasn't up for eating this am, they've found a med for her severe nausea... Haldol, a.k.a., haliperidol.
I cannot make that up. Granted, it's actually fairly common in palliative care, and another dopamine agonist, Compazine, has been a common treatment for severe nausea and uncontrolled vomiting for at least a few decades--my mom, in fact initially received it as part of her post-chemo regimen for a while with Gemzar until they realize it was causing her severe headaches and neck pain. In fact, I didn't realize that Compazine was an antipsychotic until then, when my mom pointed out its relationship to Thorazine, having only heard of its use in terms of upper digestive upset. Meanwhile, Haldol, well, that's what one-armed Mike of Twin Peaks was taking. That's one of the older treatments for schizophrenia.
Yes, there was a bit of a double-take when the nurse told me that.
But, anyhow, I digress. Mom has a morphine pump and regular doses of Haldol, the combination of which seems to resolve most of her pain and all of her nausea, to the point that she ate several times today. I doubt the uptick in appetite will last long, but it does mean that she should be around long enough to return home once they've established a protocol for treatment. As long as she stays stable, she could go home later this week. It's almost getting to the point where it's like, "It's Tuesday, has Mom had her health crisis yet?" And the fact that Tuesday is the day in question is not lost on me as a point of perverse amusement.
So my plan is to go down Saturday, meeting up with KB/Andrea to sort through my mom's stuff, per her request. I think it's part of that recessional impulse of the dying to see as much resolved before death as possible--and maybe she wants to leave fewer reminders for L. so that he can get through each day a little more readily than not, especially in the bedroom where he'll still be sleeping for at least a little while.
Aside from all that, David and I had already planned last night to have dinner at Sushi & Joy, the little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where we'd first met nearly 7.5 years ago. Apparently, they exclusively do sushi now, no teriyaki, etc.--not that anyone I know really went there for anything but the sushi. They do have some of the freshest salmon you will ever taste. We got there around 6, ordered some special rolls and nigiri, and in the middle of that, the head sushi chef waved to us, called us "#1 customers" and ended up telling some of the patrons at the bar how we had, indeed, first met here, later married, and now returned, five years since the last time we'd eaten there, with our son. We ended up with as much extra fish as sashimi on our nirigi orders as was on the rice, and 4-5 extra plates of food, including a broiled salmon collar. Oh, also, sake for toasting. It was very nice to feel so welcomed, and to be remembered after half a decade away.
Of course, all this unexpected generosity was punctuated by mostly-benign but still-wandering toddler. He didn't make much of a mess, however, and was pretty quiet for the whole meal.
So, yeah, things started looking up, overall, once we got on the road. David's landed in bed now, Ty beat him to sleep by half an hour, and I'm probably just going to relax for the next while. I have a new book (Cast in Peril by Michelle Sagara), and Mists of Pandaria, plus DVR recordings.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-27 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-27 05:18 pm (UTC)