Thursday, October 15, 2009

We're in the E.R.

Phil went to the E.R. with Stomach Lava at roughly 4 in the morning. My parents came over at 8 to be with the kids so I could come up here to the hospital. Right now he's getting an ultrasound of his pancreas and gall bladder, since his pancreatic enzymes are elevated. We got in trouble for not having him on Senokot and Colace for constipation, which is totally my bad. Initially we were told to give Phil a stool softener every day, which he's been taking, but then on Tuesday our doctor told him to get on laxatives. I then promptly dropped the ball, and we just got a talkin' to.

So I'm not sure if that's scandalous enough to qualify for a reality show, but we're doing our best to keep things lively for y'all. I'll update this post once we have more info on Phil's condition.

UPDATE 9:48pm EST- Phil has been admitted. They are concerned about a bowel obstruction which is obviously very serious, so they will be doing a CT scan to figure out exactly what's going on and why four different industrial-strength laxatives have done nothing but make Phil vomit. Mama Brabbs came down early so when I came home she went up to the hospital and she'll spend the night with Phil and make sure he gets his pain meds when he needs them. More from me once I know more.

UPDATE 12:26am EST- So I ended up having an erruption on the bottom end of things right before they wanted to shove me into the donut hole for a CT scan of my impacted bowel. Fortunately I made it to the bathroom in time! I feel like half of the molten rock that has formed due to the Stomach Lava (Webster- please add to the dictionary) is no longer with me...yipee. I still have abdominal pain, but the doc doesn't want me to drink water and continue on laxatives until the morning....which I sort of disagree with, but I can understand her point in terms of not wanting to just dump more stuff on a clogged system...although I don't see many other options.

What does this do for Phil's chemo and Velcade infusion? Answer: everything is on hold. It's kind of disappointing that we didn't make it through the first cycle on all the meds, but we learned a heck of lesson today. That is, don't just talk about Stomach Lava, blow it up before it gets out of control. Also, we were trying to stay very natural with the laxatives, but my attitude now is that the chemo drugs aren't natural, so I have no problem fighting fire with fire.

That's it for now, time to sleep, which hasn't occurred since 5am Wednesday morning (going on 48 hours of domination).

Keep posting comments and suggestions....they are extremely helpful. Our boy out in LA was huge today in responding to our email questions from the ER...we love you man! All the comments and feedback throughout this process are HUGE.

Dominate. Phil.

9 comments:

Steph - the 313 said...

I hope the u/s are clear and no issues there. colace is a wonder worker. Pls keep us updated and let us know if you need anything today - esp. for the kids.

Kindred Spirit said...

I'm praying for Phil, Cassie. May God bless you and strengthen you. Keep smiling; remember, you are not alone. We're with you!

EJ & Roo said...

saying a prayer for you guys. hope the lava subsides soon.

Balazers said...

I had to google stomach lava... and guess what? First result.. your website!! Must not be an official term. Ugh! Praying for you guys!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Lesson learned the hard (hehe) way:

3 Pericolace caps morning and night every single day!!

(get generic, order from Walgreens.com, cheaper)

If no results in 2 days, one bottle mag citrate liquid, also known as dynamite!

Seriously, this worked well for Richard. Hope that nothing else more serious is going on.

Teresa

Amy said...

Yowza! Doesn't sound so nice. Thinking of you guys and praying, too!

Anonymous said...

cassie... don't know if you remember me. i got in touch with you after the diagnosis on charlotte mommies. my dad had mm and i've still been following yours and phil's journey with this. i know you guys will kick cancer!! thinking of you guys tonight and hoping everything is okay with phil. love and support from NC!

erin

EJ & Roo said...

thanks for the update! been thinking good thoughts for you guys all day! please tell phil my mom's reinfusion went GREAT today.
i hope you like the smell of garlic -- the preservative they use causes a garlic like smell for 24-48 hours. needless to say our hotel room smells like olive garden!

Cassie said...

Lindsay, that's unbelievable! Sure enough when I Googled it... we pop up. CRACKING up over here.

Teresa, thank you for the advice. I'm definitely checking out Walgreens.com, or else all my CVS Extar Bucks are gonna be spent on this stuff and then how on earth will I buy diapers?!

Erin, I remember you. I'm so glad you've been following us, and thank you for your encouragement. Love to you and your family.

EJ- Thanks so much! Phenomenal job documenting your mom's journey. We're thinking of you guys! XO