Some of you know but many of you do not. Norma is in the hospital!
She had some dental surgery on February 1 which was followed by a bad infection in her mouth. This made it hard to swallow and antibiotics were prescribed. The first course did not help and it got worse. This was followed by three more courses, none of which helped. By now she found swallowing very difficult if not impossible and was existing on Boost, juices and other very soft foods. I took her to the doctor and lab tests were ordered. Two days later we went to see the doctor who told her she had passed the lab work with flying colors. He kidneys, liver, lungs were good and her chest x-ray showed clear lungs. She passed the cancer screening blood test. "You are healthy so we just have to deal with the infection. He prescribed a stronger antibiotic and we went home. This was Friday, February 22.
The next morning I was in my office and when I checked on Norma she was passed out on the toilet. I shook her, yelled at her and woke her up. I was helping her back to the bed when she passed out again. I carried her to the bed and called 911.
They arrived and noticed she was severely dehydrated and put her on an IV drip while they transported her. The Emergency Room doctor ordered a scan which showed two "masses" pressing on her swallowing mechanism, blocking the passage. Her breathing passage was fine.
He admitted her and after playing musical beds in our brand new but overcrowded hospital we ended up in a private room with a large couch for me to sleep on.
Many tests, scans, MRI's, biopsies and x-rays followed with some results coming in quickly, some slowly and some we have not seen yet. She was on 24/7 IV drip for many days and soon they put a feeding tube up her nose. This was a difficult job done by her ear, nose and throat specialist because of the problems in her throat.
A couple of days ago this nose tube was replaced with a tube directly into her stomach and is much more comfortable. She is "eating" much more than she ever has. They were feeding her 24/7 for the first two or three days and have now cut her back to 3 "meals" a day. The IV drip has also been removed as she is no longer dehydrated. They are giving her water through the feeding tube every time they flush it. She is much more cheerful now.
Her attitude is so much better now. She refused any type of opium based drug just on general principles and because of unfortunate experiences with both her mother and father. Between the nurses, doctors and I we talked her into trying Dilaudid in a tiny 1 mg dose and it is working! No more severe headaches! She is on that as required (about every 5 - 6 hours.
So far the results are suggesting two kinds of cancer although they are still not sure. Everything has been sent down to the Cancer Clinic in Victoria and on Tuesday Norma, a nurse escort and myself will make the trip down in the Cancer Van for a consultation in Victoria. It is about four hours each way so with a two hour consultation it will be a 10 - 12 hour day. She will be in a bed in the van.
Please send lots of positive thoughts but hold back on the flowers as the room is small with almost no counter space and we have already been asked to remove some of the more odoriferous flowers as other patients and some staff are complaining.
I will keep you all updated but right now she needs a very positive attitude from all her friends (both real and "imaginary" as she calls them) to match her own positive outlook. For Norma this is just another job that needs to be done. She has organized unions, kicked bad politicians out of office and has run campaign to elect good politicians and she has a very good batting average. This is just another windmill for her to tilt!
