Fourth of July "Eve"

You know, timing is everything -- or nothing. I really thought things would move well today when we saw Nancy's surgeon, oncologist and gastroenterologist all before 9:00 am. The only test ordered was by the surgeon who saw Nancy at about 6:00 am this morning. He wanted to be sure that nothing was moving through the obstruction before clearing Nancy for going home. All of the doctors agreed that the only options available for Nancy to resolve the intestinal obstruction were surgical -- and none of those options was good. The doctors felt they had to offer them to Nancy, but did so with arguments as to why the options were poor. Nancy didn't want to have any more surgery anyway, so, the only options were to decide where Nancy would spend the rest of her time. She wants to go home. The problem is that for Nancy to go home, a lot of stuff has to get done and with the CT scan not being done 'till the middle of the afternoon, all preparations for her return home ended until Thursday -- after the holiday!

That is too bad because all Nancy wants now is to go home, eat popsicles and let her puppy sit on her lap. Popsicles have become the big joke with all Nancy's visitors because with not having eaten any solid food since June 22, she was pretty sure that she wanted something to eat and that would be a popsicle. At one point, on her first visit to the hospital for this obstruction, last week, her surgeon said she could have a popsicle. However, he failed to write orders for that offhand statement. When Nancy was told by her nurse that to receive a popsicle, the surgeon would have to write the order, Nancy made sure every nurse or PCT (patient care technician) that entered the room heard of her displeasure with the surgeon. Well, today ( a new week and no written orders for a popsicle), thanks to our friend Sue Valentine, the hospital rebel, who knew where the nurses kept the popsicles and wasn't afraid to smuggle one to Nancy, Nancy's afternoon was a little brighter. Shortly after Sue left, we thought the sugar police were going to discover the evidence because they were checking Nancy's blood sugar and getting unexpected results. However, Nancy's blood sugar was actually too low after the popsicle & our secret was safe. Thanks Sue. Later in the afternoon, we encouraged a PCT to steal another one from the nurses stash for Nancy. After all, Nancy's blood sugar was too low (85 mg/dl - for those who want the numbers).

So the bottom line is that Nancy will have to spend the 4th in the hospital. I though about bringing bottle rockets to shoot across to the nurses station, but we decided that wouldn't be a good idea -- too much noise for the rest of the patients -- and you know, there is that risk of fire. Unless something fun happens tomorrow, I won't have much to enter into this blog until Thursday -- when the staff returns to the hospital and people actually work at their jobs again.