Thursday, 1-21-10 - Day +17. Everything is going great. Roy does seem to be tired at times but overall I think he is doing great and so does the doctor and the RNP. Today he got his usual bag of magnesium plus he had to have a bag of potassium so he had 5 hours of drips. He slept off and on while I sat and did handwork. We had to catch the 6a.m. bus so when the alarm went off at 4:15 this morning I sure hated to get up. Tomorrow we'll catch the 7a.m. bus so we can sleep an extra hour. I told Roy I was going to ask the nurse if I needed to be there every day, all day and he said I didn't need to ask, that I didn't need to be. I said I really need to do laundry and go to the grocery store and when I get home after 4p.m. and get dinner it is too late to start any chores. So Saturday and Sunday I will take him to the hospital and drop him off and then when he is finished he will call me. My only concern was that they said the caregiver needed to be with the 24/7 but we decided when he was in the hospital for treatment, that they could take car of him and that was only when he was out.

Also, I asked the nurse if I understood her correctly Tuesday, that Roy would be coming in every day for his fluids and she said yes, that Medicare wouldn't pay for us to have a pump at home or to have a home health nurse. She also did say that beginning Monday they will start him on a magnesium pill and then the next week they would give him 2 and it could work up to as many as 5 or 10 per day. That way they will just give him fluids and not with the magnesium in the bag. She also said that before long he would have to start taking Imodium as the magnesium is the same as Milk of Magnesia and we know what that is supposed to do, but so far he hasn't needed the Imodium but we carry it with us just in case.

His platlet count was in the normal range today, and I can't remember when that has been. His hemoglobin and WBC were good also. She is still telling him he needs to drink more fluids as his creatan level was within range but on the high side and she would like it a little lower.