Finally Dave slept all night! There were several changes that led to this. I don't know what was more important, the time release pain medicine or control of the night sweats. Our caregivers probably would say control of night sweats because now there is not a pile of 3 to 4 wet t-shirts and pajamas along with the towel he had put on top of wet sheets. Both are important to Dave.
Meeting with our primary care doctor was the opportunity to review and refine the medication he was taking and possibly eliminate, change dosage, or add. While he was in the hospital, he had been taken cold turkey off the depression and OCD meds, so he was glad to be able to restart one of them on a low dose. His disposition has improved significantly, so life for the rest of us is better too. Everything is based on if the medication is processed by the kidneys, or if it might react with the time release pain medicine.
Now that his liver function is also close to normal he can begin to look ahead. The MRI last week showed that the tumor had not grown, nor had the section on the liver changed. However possible cysts were discovered in the liver. One of the possible reasons for the cysts is there are pockets of infection left-over from the infection that put him in the hospital. Because chemotherapy cannot be safely started if an infection still exists, we now go to the infectious disease doctor on Wednesday.
One more doctor to meet. It seems like there is always one more piece of information we need. Thinking about one more piece of information, the cancer doctor did not like the continued low red blood counts Dave’s blood tests have been showing, so a transfusion is needed. Another blood sample is needed to match everything so that will be done on Wednesday. Thursday he gets to spend 3 - 4 hours watching the blood dripping down. More likely he will take his laptop and watch a movie.
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