staying up late

Val had a rotten day yesterday, the worst she’s had so far. Unremitting coughing that led to puking twice; lots of pain and some nausea; and finally a fever. The advice nurse and on-call oncologist were consulted around 10:00 pm, but I knew enough from experience to call in sick for Sunday and start packing my overnight bag. We spent the next five hours in the ER. Val was absolutely miserable. Liz, Mae and I crammed uncomfortably into her tiny admitting room while they took 11 vials of blood from Val, took blood cultures from both arms, gave her fluids via IV, extracted a pee sample, gave her an X-ray (only a day after her most recent CT scan) and eventually gave her some drugs for nausea.

The staff were very kind and nurse Chad was gentle, but as always, people said unguardedly unsettling things about the growth and density of her tumors. Sigh. In the end they concluded that, although the array of tumors made it impossible actually to see, it’s likely that some infection is tucked behind a tumor or three, something the doctor called (at least this is what I wrote down at 2:30 am) “small pneumonia.” They started her on aggressive oral antibiotics (something we’ve asked about several times over the last weeks, so it’s almost a relief to try them at last) and finally released us a little after 3:00.

This morning Val woke up feeling crappy but not ER-level crappy. Much better than yesterday, anyway. People have been in and out of the place all day bringing food, cleaning, picking up meds, bringing herbal supplements, strategizing things to help with her upcoming radiation. The dog served as receptionist. We are organizing shifts for various tasks. Marya appeared in the morning  — looking, in her peaked cap and long leg-warmers, like the Shiatsu Elf — to magic away Val’s dreadful headache. Kindness keeps happening and happening.

xo

Deborah