Nurse assistant Vern

Well, tonight "what I have feared has come upon me!" Deb was hooked up to a portable infuser that is a pressurized medical bottle that infuses her for 5 hours, then I get to go thru the procedure to unhook, and clean the port that is hooked up almost into her heart.I was hoping to not have to do this!

So, as training, the nurse had me hook it up and practice the procedure I'll be doing at 10 pm tonight Ark., time.

{NOTE SEVERAL HOURS LATER: IT WENT GREAT.DEB IS SAFE AND IT WASN'T SO BAD.PTL}

Deb's White Blood Cell Count is on the way down as a result of the chemo. Yesterday it was at 2.10. (3-12 is normal.) Today it is 0.46, which means she has just about no capability to fight infections. The nurse said they often see 0.0.

That's why I have a bottle of anti-biotics and port supplies over on the desk along with her 18 other meds I'm dispensing. If she gets an overnight fever of 101 or greater,I'm to administer and call the on-call doc.

Just in case you think I'm goofing off, think otherwise!

Another number we are watching is Deb's CRP Today it was 30.10. Yesterday it was 43.5 This is a number that indicates risk of infection. They think Deb's has been so high because of the pain levels she's dealing with because pain affects these readings. Every day we get a two page summary of the lab tests. I'm a rookie at all this but do appreciate that they are into data and facts here.We file them into a binder with dividers every day. Classmates in the waiting area brag about their numbers. You'd think it was golf or bowling scores!

Watching and encouraging classmates is interesting and a part of the great lab we are undergoing. A few days ago, I had to go stand in the hospital pharmacy line for awhile. Deb grew faint and a classmate went to retrieve a nurse who promptly got Deb into a bed and monitored her. Today, that classmate's patient wife was doing poorly. We encouraged them. The scriptures say 'we should comfort others with the same comfort we ourselves have been comforted with.' I guess that's what that means?

I mentioned before that they have a great IT system that allows all the medical records to be posted or read from all over the campus. They use two software packages that I've spied out so far.One is Centricity for general medical records. The other is Web Chart for the actual Doctors orders and followup.

Tonight we met another Georgian. A man from Savannah.

Tomorrow we will conference about pain management and hopefully fine tune Deb's meds.

Blessings all!

Vern