UPDATE 3-16-09

Today was a checkup with Dr. Kruper. She just wanted to talk to Mom about her medications and how she was doing pain-wise. Mom expressed to her that the Plastic Surgeon had recommended she back away from the pain meds, but doing so was horribly uncomfortable. Mom experienced a few days of excruciating pain when she slowed the frequency of the pain medication, so much that the previous Sunday morning when I went over to visit, she had tears streaming down her face. She was sitting in bed and couldn’t move because her pain level was too intense. I was MAD. I took a pain pill from the bottle, placed it in her mouth, handed her a glass of water and said that it was RIDICULOUS for her to be removing her pain meds this early in her recovery. She was not even close to being ready for that. Dad was adamant with me that the plastic surgeon said she needed to get off them, but I knew Dr. Kruper’s focus was for Mom’s pain to be managed properly so that she could heal.

Mom had still been dealing with fevers off and on for the last week too on top of everything else. We even had a few nights where we’d have to monitor her fever closely while on the phone with the Triage Nurse, Margaret, at the City of Hope, trying our best to avoid having to drive her down there in the middle of the night.

SO, Dr. Kruper’s visit today confirmed what I knew to be true…Mom needed to kick back in the pain meds. Her fevers were a direct result of the lung issues she was having, mixed with too much pain in her chest. She didn’t have enough pain relief to be able to breathe deeply enough to fill her lungs completely, which makes the perfect setup for infection. She was only taking half-breaths to avoid having discomfort, therefore the lack of air in her lungs wouldn’t help her body dispel the infection building in her lungs, and a fever is your body’s natural response to fight infection. It’s amazing how much every part of the body works with the other.

Dr. Kruper also wanted to let Mom know that she shouldn’t be concerned with getting addicted to the pain medication because the medication is a treatment they use for incisional surgery and it is a very short term form of treatment.

Mom still has 3 tubes with drains coming out of her body which is VERY uncomfortable, not to mention a very time consuming part of her daily care. The volume of fluid coming from each is still not anywhere close to the time for them to be removed.

Overall, the visit was short and sweet. We were on the road within 20 minutes of arriving!