Well, for now at least, we are stabilised at a 4ml dosage every 2 hours. Except for 10.30am and 10.30pm when I give Husband the oxycontin, and that keeps him going for 4 hours before we resume the morphine. There is a SLIGHT (VERY slight) reduction in the hallucinations and other strange side effects, and I am hoping that every day will see an improvement to the point that the pain will be killed but there will be no side effects! Fingers crossed.
He is doing his best to keep eating and drinking. The easiest thing for him to eat is always stew, so I make sure that is always there for him. Most of the time I end up with plenty of food in the house for Husband, but nothing for me! Good thing it is easy (and cheap) for me to get take-away food in this country :-). On those occasions when Husband finds it hard to EAT anything, then I make sure he drinks Ensure or Prosure protein drinks - both recommended by the gastro surgeon, to help build him back up. At least 3 of those in one day.
People have been asking me - what about the chemo? When are you continuing? Well, the onco in the KL hospital had actually said that, considering how amazingly "light" the cancer weight is in Husband's body, we should take a break while he is feeling so weak and in pain. However, of course, we are both a bit concerned about not having done chemo since end October, so I called our onco in Melaka, and asked him if he could recommend us to a doctor at the General Hospital KL. He advised us to go to the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), as they have a brand new oncology department, he knows the oncologists there personally, and they also use the "latest and greatest" drugs (similar to those that he himself uses), whereas GHKL would NOT have the leading edge drugs. All I have to do now is to figure out WHEN Husband is able to go for chemo, and call our onco in Melaka, and he will call the onco in UMMC and make the arrangements, and give us a referral letter. The referral is necessary as UMMC is a government hospital and anyone going there, particularly non-Malaysian, needs a referral (other than for A&E of course!).
Another major plus point of UMMC is that it is just 10-15 minutes drive from our home! And, of course, the fact that it is a govt hospital hopefully means that we wont have to pay the rather exorbitant prices of private hospitals for chemo drugs. I doubt if we will get as good a price as our onco in Melaka (due to his friendship with my brother), but the drive there is just too hard for Husband at the moment.
That's it for now folks. Please continue to keep Husband in your thoughts and prayers that he adapts well to the latest pain meds he is taking, and that it WILL help to control the pain well... and, of course, that the cancer WILL be beaten.
Till next time, stay safe, stay HEALTHY!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment