Day 39: May 15, 2012

Day 39                                                                                                  Written May 15, 2012 7:43pm

Dallas didn't go to sleep until after 3am, Donna stayed up with him all night with him to make sure he didn't start scratching his face or other areas.  This morning, they wanted to have him start taking his medications by mouth, rather than through his tube.  So the nurse gave him his vitamin and had him drink some vitamin C, they also gave him his Addarex (the itchy medicine) through his tube.  About 5 minutes after taking it, he threw it all up.  They also cut Dallas' feeds off, going to give him nocturnal feeds only, so hopefully, he will begin to get hungry again and start eating more. 

We did his dressing change this morning.  It's easier than before, requiring only Xeroform and Kerlix; however, there are spots that still get stuck and end up bleeding after pulling them off.  Dallas didn't do well during this dressing change, most of it was the anticipation of the pain, but there were definitley some spots that did hurt him.
Some of the areas looked better than I expected, but others looked worse.  You could see the spots that didn't take on his arm, but there is a chance that it could still heal without future grafting.  There is also a spot on his right arm in the crease of the elbow where his own skin grew back and didn't require grafting.  That's a great thing!  

After Dallas' dressing change, we had him stand on the scale to get his weight, and then he walked over to the potty (with a little assistance), and then back to his bed.  He was on his feet at least 15 minutes.  Shortly thereafter, he decided to take a nap.

The doctors advised us that we could move to a floor room if we felt comfortable with caring for Dallas.  Well, we've been doing everything for him (besides giving him his medicine) for the last month, so I'm pretty sure we could handle it.  We should know in a few hours what room he will be in.

During his nap, we realized that he was very hot to the touch, we also noticed that he was beginning to get shaky again.  We decided to take his temperature and it was at 103.9.  After notifying the nurses, they gave him some motrin and called the doctors to see what they wanted to do.  About 30 minutes later, they came in to do blood cultures, and gave him tylenol as well.  In the mean time, we put cool washcloths on his head, arm, and legs; this should help to cool him down.  I found out that his Methadone and Adavan were given later than scheduled, throwing his dosing schedule off; so hopefully it's just a result of a late dose.  A couple hours later, Dallas' fever went to 100.2.  

The nurse came in and told us Dallas' hemoglobin levels were down to 5.  She thinks it's a wrong read, because he looks ok.  We are weary of this, considering the last time he dropped to a 6something, he looked ok and was moving, etc.  There are cultures scheduled for in the morning, so they said unless Dallas begins to show signs of being lethargic or begin to get worse, they will wait until then to take another set of cultures.    

They moved Dallas this afternoon to a new room.  This room is more spacious, and less intrusive, so Dallas will be more comfortable.  Hopefully this will also help with Dallas feeling more like himself.    

Dallas has eaten a little throughout the day.  Some applesauce, icecream, some sprite, a milkshake.  We are hoping that he will continue to eat more with each day and will have the feeding tube out soon.  

Physical Therapy wasn't too intensive this afternoon.  I think partly because he had such a high fever, and the fact that he had already done so much earlier.  So the therapist stretched out his arms and legs, loosening him up.  

Dallas and Travis got to play the Xbox today.  That brought such a big smile to his face!  It was great to see his eyes light up like that again!  

Also, we had a meal brought in to us by Diane and Larry Kirby.  It was so nice to have a meal other than cafeteria food.  It was wonderful, and we really appreciated it!  

Hopefully Dallas will get a good nights rest and be ready to eat in the morning.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.