Another Long Day

Here is another status on Lauri's condition here at MD Anderson. It hasn't been the greatest time so far, so I won't sugar-coat it...

Lauri had another rough night last night fighting pain due to a relatively ineffective epidural. Around midnight Friday night, her pain level escalated. The pain team worked throughout the night, changing epidural solutions and adding a PCA pump, which basically acts as an "on demand" narcotic pain killer. It was a long night...

The PCA pump's medication caused Lauri to get really groggy, so much that she could not hold a conversation, or focus her vision, or do much of anything. It also looked like the PCA pump wasn't really bringing the pain level down. By mid-morning, the pain team decided to stop using the PCA pump, and switch to pain pills.

By late this afternoon, Lauri's pain level spiked again. The pain increased quickly, due to a still fading epidural, and the oral pain pills weren't enough to keep it under control. The pain team was called again, and they decided to add an additional IV pain medication and change the solution on the epidural again. They also upped the dose of the oral pain medication. Lauri is more comfortable now, and is finally able to rest.

Lauri's epidural is still in place, but is not very deep and leaks medication. The pain team has decided that the leak is not new, they see it from time to time, and the epidural does not need to be replaced. The epidural coverage is spotty at best, leaving areas that are not numb, where the chest tube can cause irritation and extreme pain.

The pain team is working very hard to get things under control. It doesn't mean that we aren't a little frustrated, since this same course of action/reaction happens every time we come here. It seems that in an effort to save storage space here, instead of converting medical records to digital copies, they instead burn the records so that they can complete the exact same steps again the next time you come back! It all goes to my conspiracy theory about hospitals - they are money machines! Ha ha, I hope you sense my sarcasm... Seriously, it is a difficult problem, and they are doing their best.

The source of most of the pain is the chest tube, and it looks like we "might" be able to get it removed tomorrow. Things will get much better once we get to that point.

On a lighter note, Lauri's lung appears to be healing well, no leaks. We expect to be released from the hospital on Monday. I'll try to update the blog again tomorrow, hopefully we will have an easier night tonight!