A stable night and morning

I finally got the call from the doctor last night about 8pm. She is the same one who called me Wednesday night to update me. We had a good long conversation. She updated me. I asked my (written down) list of questions and she was also very good to listen to all my concerns. She agreed with me and said she was also going to be working last night and through 5pm today and she would make sure the nurse stays on top of his care and pain meds and follows the orders. She said the nurse yesterday should have given him the extra med, it was on the order and definitely should have checked with her when dh kept questioning why he wasn't getting it, if there was any question the nurse had.

She also explained to me what the dr on Thursday meant by the necrosis, which eased my mind considerably. She said there is a type of necrosis that is associated with acute pancreatitis and it's temporary and heals when the pancreas returns to normal. She was the one who talked to the specialist yesterday. All of dh's markers are showing improvement or are good (WBC, etc) and since his fever yesterday was extremely short lived they aren't concerned about that. She explained why he would be hurting to take a deep breath. It's from the pancreas still being inflamed in an area and when he takes a deep breath his lung will bump into it. It's kind of all part of the healing process with it, from the sounds of it. Like his body is going through different symptoms with it as it tries to heal.

She said the nurse on duty last night is a good one (not a traveling nurse) and then dh told me who his nurse is. He's met her before. She's a friend of that wood worker guy. She was on the ball with it all last night and he had a decent night with it all. Today's nurse is same one from yesterday, but this morning dh said she seems to have gotten the message that she needs to pay attention to what she's told to do. The doctor told me she is going to make sure she emphasizes to these nurses that his meds have to be given consistently and on time. She also does not want them skipping any doses, even if he says he doesn't need it. She doesn't want him to not have any pain meds in his system if his pain increased a bunch at some point (as it seems to do).

The doctor was very good to spend so much time talking with me and she told me do not worry about having to speak up if I have concerns, that's what I'm supposed to do and she needs me to do for him. Mr Neighbor also said she is really good, and I agree.

He had a much more comfortable night than his day yesterday and still feeling ok this morning. No turn for the worse, like yesterday morning, so that is good. He's also apparently figured out how to text better with his left hand LOL. He's back at it, haha.

She also told me that the specialist said that they are doing everything for his current condition that they would be doing in the city hospital, so that made me feel good that he doesn't need to be moved (unless he got really bad). His first CT scan was with contrast (I didn't realize that) so that gave them the best view of the pancreas. The second scan was w/o, but she just wanted it as a follow up to make sure it didn't look worse, but didn't want to do the dye scan again, as that is not good to have unless really necessary. She said the only thing that might be good, if this doesn't clear up soon, is an ultrasound, which they don't have. But, she said on Monday the mobile unit will be there with the MRI and she will put him on the schedule for it, just in case. What they would be looking for is a gallstone in the pancreas, but she said there is usually blood test markers that indicate there is a gallstone there and he has none of those, so she really doesn't think that is causing this.

I need to run into town and get a few groceries. I'm out of milk and bread. I had originally planned this my day to go into the city, visit my mom and pick up groceries, but I don't want to be that far away right now, so I'll just run into our little grocery store and get what I need for now. The nurse that he's talked to that had pancreatitis before has been giving him tips on good foods to eat while at home healing, when he can come home. She said chicken broth is good to have. It's supposed to be almost 100 today, so I'd better get out this morning before it heats up too much. Plus the store is usually pretty empty if you go early.