Went to see the oncologist yesterday, to see why the constant puking and purging. Turns out (AGAIN) that Husband was completely dehydrated - so he was admitted back into hospital, and put on saline (and magnesium) drips for 24 hours. As you can imagine, sleep wasn't in the cards! The schedule was supposed to be:
- the first 500ml of saline to be infused from 3pm to 9pm, the next one from 9pm to 3am, the next one from 3am to 9am, and the final one from 9am to 3pm.
You would have thought that we could have slept from 9pm to 3am, and then from 3am to 9pm, right??? Nope. Didn't quite happen that way! What happened was that they had taken Husband's blood for testing, and the test results came back around 5pm and it was found that Husband was low on magnesium... so, they stopped the first drip around 6.30pm, started the second one (with magnesium added to it), and that finished just past 1am, they then put back the first one to finish it off, and that finished just before 3am, and then they put the 3rd one in, which continued till 9am....BUT, as you can see, our sleep was already so interrupted, that we could not go back to sleep after 3am... sigh...
Yes, Husband feels a lot better with his cells nicely re-hydrated. BUT he still has the trots.. so, for the next few days, every time that happens, I have to give him one loperamide (immodium) capsule. I've also told Husband, in as strong terms as possible, that UNLESS HE STARTS EATING AND DRINKING PROPERLY (especially the DRINKING aspect, though not alcohol :-p), then I might as well just give up on him NOW, as he is not going to make it - because this is NOT the first time he has been dehydrated so badly... but getting him to DRINK is near impossible. I have bottles of water, ribena, 100-plus, sprite, etc, all set up and ready for him. I even have a mini-fridge on his bedside table so he doesn't have to leave the room to get a cold drink at night.. and he STILL doesn't drink! What else can I do? I think he might FINALLY have got the message, because I really did blow up at him today.
Well, keep praying that he gets some sense into his head, so that he realises that looking after him is a two-person job - I cannot look after him, unless he also helps!
Till next time, continue to keep him in your prayers and, of course, stay safe, stay HEALTHY!
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OK, I know I shouldn't write this, but in the end that post was actually kinda funny :D . Nothing like a good blow up to get a man in line! Hehe, I know this all too well myself.
The drinking problem is probably a European thing. In my family, we hardly drink as well, because well, where we are from, it's just not so hot and not needed. With 30 years of non-drinking habit, in Sg for me, I feel thirsty and drink only when I am really dehydrated too, which is already too late. I can imagine that for Husband, it's even worse (he's slightly older than me ;) ).
Just having drinks available is not enough. What's needed is an objective. Get a 3 liters bottle of coke, and fill it up everyday with rebena or whatever, the objective: everyday, the bottle must be drunk, ENTIRELY! At least that gives you something to measure in fluid intake.
I did that for a while and it actually worked. Of course I totally hated that drinking so much I was peeing all day (felt like a total waste of time...). But in the end I DID feel better for being hydrated properly.
If the bottle doesn't go, then you can be even more drastic, set hourly, or one and a half hourly reminders to drink a glass of something. When the reminder rings, even if not thirsty, just drink whatever.
Husband not drinking is not to annoy you or himself, it's purely because he doesn't feel thirsty. And it's hard to think about it all the time. So if the body doesn't tell you to drink, have something else in place that will. Husband will probably be happy for it; and seriously an hourly "bip", is better than a wife nag ;)
Good luck with that guys, I do believe that this problem is one that can easily be solved.
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