ChloeWatts.com

Friday, July 11th: There is a bolded revision to yesterday’s blog.

July 12th, 2008 Posted in Daily News Post

I thought you’d like to see what Dana goes through on a typical night. This is the early email I received from her this morning. I’ve been staying at my house over night as Grandma Lee is using Dana’s bed as Dana sleeps with Chloe.

++++++++++++

“I’m happy to say that she still has the tube as of this writing but it was an ugly night. After 2 doses of children’s Tylenol, diluted, at 2 different intervals, the fever only came down one point. It decidedly went up after that…I called Dr. Norwood again.

I called him at 7 pmish when the fever hit 101.7 and again at 10:21 pm when it went UP to 101.8 after those doses AND she was spiking a pain thing. I had to know what more/what else/how else to deliver meds AND what to do about the feeds. He agreed with me…I had too much to handle, keep the feeds off.

Finally around midnight she faced me, was snoring gently and didn’t answer when I said Chloe? I fell asleep. We slept till about 6:30, not bad considering.

I checked her and thought that she had barfed in her sleep BUT it was the feeding tube…my bad. Cap came off and leaked on her and the bed. Will be doing sheets today…I hope…

Dr N said we might have to bring her in today to figure this out. He was great over the phone…all night…said he was available and told me the plan was to call him first should I need to admit her myself.

I did tell him this was familiar…the pain spike, the fever and it was very likely fluid built up in her head. He asked where pain was…I said all over her head.

She was writhing in pain for about 20 minutes. Lee said it was painful to be in Denver imagining this, but the reality check is worse.

Luv you/see you…be prepared for anything.

But I still envision her growing old, being healthy, wealthy and wiser than us all.

Fever this am? 99.5. go figure. I started the feeds at 20ml at 7am after the Zofran.”

+++++++++++++++

After all that I showed up in the A.M. All in all Dana was much more together than I would have considered. She was actually cleaning the sink and putting dishes away as Lee sat with Chloe.

All day Dana spent chasing the fever. Chloe was very sleepy today and much of the day she had her eyes closed. She did ask me at one point, “do you know what today is?” I asked, “other than Friday?” She said, “It’s the first day I’ve kept my tube down.” We high fived.

Very special for her was a visit by Rev. Barry and his wife Heather. These two are very special people to all of us and Chloe was well cared for in there presence. Heather did some Reiki on her after giving her some memorable gifts. Among them were three handmade black angels from Nigeria. Now this wouldn’t be too interesting to many unless you heard the rest of the story.

A couple hours prior to B&H arriving, Chloe had Dana bent over in front of her. She was playing with Dana’s hair, as she loves to do. She said to Dana, “do you know how you dreamed of being a Chinese man?” (Yea, I know… a little strange…) “Well, I believe I am an African American Girl. I saw this in a flashback.” Is she tuned in or what?

Rev. Barry prayed over Chloe. Later she said, “I think Rev. Barry and I had a good connection there.” HOW OLD IS THIS GIRL ANYWAY?

All in all I’d call today a managed day, filled with healing sleep. The temps never came down to where we like, but, the nausea was managed well. Dana spoke with Dr. Dorsen, the surgeon, and was relieved to hear that it would be a stretch to think the tumor was causing the temperatures. This sentiment was shared by Dr. Norwood. I like it when two Mega Minds concur. Dr. Norwood also about had a heart attack when he thought he heard Dana say she gave Chloe 5 ML of a drug instead of point 5 mL. In any case he did say she could back off to .3 so that Chloe wouldn’t be so tired. Maybe tomorrow will be more of a moving day.

Dana did get Chloe into the bath tonight but that was about all the energy she could muster. She gave us some great smiles and hugs today. She had a fun moment with Dana. She scared the bageebies out of her with a little practical joke. We all got to laugh today. That was a big gift offered up by our star patient.

Thank you all for all your offers to help. Keep them coming please. We will be in a position to start accepting the generosities soon. We want to make sure we go about all this right so that it is known to all parties, ahead of time, to avoid any misunderstandings that would distract from the real priority, Chloe’s improving health.

As I stated before, if you care to contact any member of the family about individual support it will certainly be welcomed. There is a very real need building.

Blessings, Ron.

PS. My deepest apology Lee. I thought I was honoring a request. My misunderstanding I believe. You are so appreciated!