Sad Puppy

Me and this here puppy are just plumb tuckered out. Once again it is late and I must go to bed. Today was a long day at the hospital.

Nick still does not feel well and the doctors still have not figured out what's wrong. The main issue is A THROBBING HEADACHE that comes and goes several times in an hour. When it gets severe, it causes nausea and then vomiting. Today the new attending, Dr. SW decided to stop the Dilaudid (a very powerful opiate narcotic) that was working for Nick and substitute just plain old Morphine by a pill. Well due to long string of errors, delays and complications, Nick went nine hours without any pain medication. While he did ok for a while, he was soon in extreme pain again. We spoke to nurses and doctors most of evening. When I left, he was taking a liquid form of Morphine that seemed to help for about two hours. He can have it every three, so I guess we will just have to see if it works. Meanwhile, we still don't know what is causing all this. Dr. S does not believe it is all related to the sinus infection, so he has ordered more tests for tomorrow. The plan is to do a lumbar puncture as a diagnostic to check the fluid.
He has already had a CT scan which was negative for anything obvious. He may also get an MRI.

Nick was seen by ENT doctor who stuck probes and tubes into his sinuses....he got numbing medicine, but, not pleasant. Then he coughed for like an hour bringing out all kinds of stuff.
He has not been eating or drinking anything!!! His weight is back down to 149 pounds!! This is so sad and depressing for me. He has lost every bit of the weight he gained while on the steroids.
No one seems to notice or care. They have changed his antibiotic. He continues on all his regular meds, plus about four new nose sprays.

They are also testing to see if his steroid taper happened too quickly and therefore, his adrenal glands forgot to start working again. A lot of his symptoms could fit with a diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency, but, these headaches are just so weird. They do seem like migraine, but, Nick has never had migraine headaches before and he has had these headaches for like 5-6 days now and they seem to be getting more intense with each new day. Tonight his neck also started to hurt...the doctors had already been watching this for signs of meningitis, spinal fluid infection, but, he still has no fever and all of his labs are normal. What is going on with him right now, just doesn't seem to be an infectious type process.

The doctor in true wonderful bedside manner just dropped the biggest bomb of all...that this might be a sign that there is leukemia back in Nick's spinal fluid. This made me sick to my stomach and right now I just cannot believe that this could be what is going on so soon after the BMT. I know Nick and Kate and I were all very upset and worried. Right now I am not letting that idea even into my full consciousness as I cannot and will not accept this explanation.

Nick has been a real trooper but he is tired of being sick and hurting so much right now. He is still not really taking phone calls as he cannot move around too much without starting his head to throbbing. If you have his cell number you can call and leave message or go to Nick's face book. Although he has not been on the computer or anything as he has not felt well enough to do anything besides lay in bed and try not to hurt. I pray to God that the doctors figure out what is wrong so Nick can get better and come home!!!

I am sick myself with Part II of some cold, so I am having trouble sleeping and feel exhausted. This whole thing just hit me like a ton of bricks. It just goes to show how quickly things can just completely turn around and upside down. Please keep Nick in your prayers. Peace