May
Sometimes, by the end of the day, the times for my injections can become quite inconvenient for both Vickie, who was driving me on this day, and the kids… Emeraude’s bedtime is 19h30 and Lloyd had plans for skateboarding and checking spring clean up piles with friends. I am still so amazed at how much of her time/life Vickie is willing to give to driving me and having her life flipped around!
I have been less than diligent lately, writing down the times at which I receive my injections which is important of course as the standing order is written for every 4hrs and I have learned that going promptly to receive pain medication is important for a few reasons. Because there is a range of 4-6mg (as of may 11 it’s actually 4-8mg) if I go every 4 hrs, I can opt for lower doses but if I wait, allowing the pain to peak, it takes a higher dose to get it under control and at a level where I can still walk/function…Also, because I get these injections through the ER, there is no way to predict what is going on there, if it is busy then I could end up waiting and then again, I am stuck taking a higher dose just to get the pain to an acceptable level.
Anyways, I had not written down the time when I got home from the last injection in the afternoon (Vickie & I had hung around outside when she brought me home and so by the time I went into the house to start supper @ 17h it was impossible to guess accurately what time I had actually been given the injection). I called the hospital and was told by the nurse that I received my injection @ 16h36, I let Vickie & Lloyd know and developed a plan of action to go for the next… I would give Emeraude her bath (meanwhile Vickie was doing the same, preparing her little one for bed as well) and Lloyd would watch her to avoid being brought to the hospital in her pj’s and winding her up before bed. This would have her going to bed later off schedule but at least Lloyd would still have a chance to somewhat keep his plans and Vickie’s little one wouldn’t be right off track with bedtime either.
She arrived right on time, 20h15, as I finished getting Emeraude into pj’s and ready to sit outside where she would watch the boys skatebord until we returned (hopefully the emergency wouldn’t be too busy), Vickie’s son decided he too would stay behind and watch the guys skateboard. We arrived at an empty emergency room at 20h25 greeted at the door by the nurse I had spoken to on the phone. There had been some mix-up she advised, the time they had from my last injection was 17h and I could not receive the next until 21h (usually I know, from my pain level increasing, when I am due for yet another injection but since returning from Thunder Bay, early morning and evening injections were not giving me adequate pain relief but I knew that my family doc would want several days of this before increasing the dose so was documenting it but not asking for an increase as of yet). Vickie confirmed that she too had checked the time when arriving home earlier and it had been 17h05 at her place (making it impossible for me to have been at the hospital at 17h as, like I mentioned we had chatted outside in my yard for quite some time after arriving)… This was irrelevant unfortunatel, I did not bother to argue with the nurse as she can only go from what is written down. She offered that we could wait in the lobby for 20 minutes but we had left the little ones outside in their pjs and the boys were waiting to go so we came back to pick them up (little ones) and let the big boys get on their way… All the kids were really understanding although Joey of course, would have preferred, had he not been in pj’s and late for bedtime, to go with the big boys. I was dissapointed with myself for not having been more responsible about writing my time down as I would have had plenty of time to put Emeraude to sleep before going to the hospital had I done so without the first unessecary trip at 20h15…
We returned to the hospital having burned enough time, and I was given my injection. Vickie brought me back home and I started story time immediately, even doing so however it was nearly 22h (10pm) when I closed Emeraude’s door behind me. Good lesson for me that I must get back to writing my times down as soon as I arrive home, thanks to everyone (including the nurse whose work I interupted needlessly with my calls and too-early visit) for your patience!
