Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, The Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wondered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen
Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Day 16 Missing a Dose

I got to the hospital around 9:30 - 9:45. I absolutely PRAISE THE LORD for the little blessing of saving parking spots that are so convenient and close to the pedestrian walkway that goes right into the building where Tim is! THANK YOU, LORD!

Met one of the ladies from the church who volunteers here 4 hours every Wednesday as she was walking through the lobby. She had been up to see Tim around 9.

I've got to stop bringing so much stuff to this room! I almost couldn't carry it all today! And I have maxed out the stacking room in my little corner of the room, as you can see from the picture.

I stopped at Aldi and ended up with an arm load of groceries! Then I stopped at Mickey D's for a large sweet tea and ended up getting 2 egg mcmuffins for myself and 2 egg and sausage mcmuffins and hash browns for Tim (which went into the fridge because he has no appetite). After McDonalds, I went to the Dollar Tree for some puzzle books, plastic silverware and a bag to carry all the groceries I bought, LOL!

So, I ended up with a bookbag (with wheels and a suitcase-type handle) full of my stuff for spending the night here, a pocketed bag with more soup, bowls, crackers, mail, tylenol PMs and another bag with the groceries and had to rearrange everything to fit the Mickey D's stuff and the sweet tea (which ended up spilling out)! After rearranging everything, I still had to carry the blueberry muffins separately in my hand and fix my purse strap so I could carry it across my chest and around the side of me, if you know what I mean! I probably looked like a pack rat or a homeless person! I know by the time I got to the room I had to get rid of the sweat shirt I was wearing!

So, enough about me. Even though Tim couldn't get a treatment because of his temperature, he said he was feeling fine. He really thinks all the heated blankets helps in the temperature spikes, however, I guess the spike lasted longer than usual. He got more sleep last night in his new bed, but still not great. Such is life in the hospital!

Nurse Robin told us that he would lose his appetite, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. He has only had 1/2 of an english muffin and a banana since the 1/2 bowl of chili last night. The only reason he ate the banana was because he was taking a med that would upset his stomach if he didn't eat something.

Dr. Stewart ordered some lasix to get some of the fluids off. Tim has gained 8 lbs of fluid since he has been here. Remember, he will probably gain 20 or more. And if he is not eating and weighs in at 20 lbs more than what he started at, I figure it will actually be more water weight than they are calling it since it seems he would be losing weight if it were not for the water retention. Does that make sense?

He had me strip all the added blankets off the bed that kept him from getting the chills last night with the midnight dose. Then he got up to sit in the chair for awhile. He read the cards, etc that the kids had included in his care package, which you can tell he enjoyed!

We are waiting for the nurses to come and change his bed and unplug him again so he can take his shower and do some walking. I'll give you another update later on in the day. His temp is back down to 99, so as long as it stays down, he should be good to go for the 4 p.m. dose. BP right now is 110/62!




2:00 waiting on being unplugged so he can walk before taking a shower. I made him walk 1/2 mile around the nurses station today! Remember I mentioned that 25 laps = 1 mile. He had 10 laps in mind. He depends on me to do the lap counting, and when he knew we were at 10 laps he headed for the room. I told him to do 3 more to get the 1/2 mile in. He was doing just fine!

3:00 After getting back from the walk, they "dressed" the port for protecting it against the water from the shower.

4:24 Vital signs at the beginning of the 6th dose.

4:53 Getting warm to offset the chills and talking to his blind friend, Anthony, on the phone. A few minutes after 5 he called for the heated blankets when the nurse didn't come on her own. The nurses have been extra busy with someone else in the unit today. You know what they say about the squeaky wheel...............

Right now he is napping. I pray he sleeps through any chills that may still be in there!

I asked about the missed dose if it would be "tacked onto the end" of the treatments. The nurse said no. It is just missed. But, she assured us it was not an unusual thing. Most miss doses. Tim was disappointed that he missed a dose, but it is just one of those things. Dr. Stewart came back in right around the time for his dose and checked Tim and told him he was good to go for the next dose! Thank You, Lord!





5:35 p.m. Unfortunately, another nurse came in to cap off the dose line, then pulled the warm covers back and raised his shirt to check things and he now has started chilling!

6:10 p.m. WOW! That was scarey! We will definitely be telling the nurse to WAIT the next time!!!! His vitals were going crazy!  I don't want to watch him going through that again!  I wanted to try and fix it, but couldn't!

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