Amanda is in the hospital. Update below.
In the last update, I mentioned that she was doing a little better, sleeping a little less, eating a little more. That didn't last. Saturday night, she started having difficulty again, and the last two days she's mostly been asleep. Still eating a little solid food, but even less. She vomited a few more times. She hasn't been able to get comfortable.
This morning, she had her first appointment at the Cedars-Sinai research clinic, the new place where she's able to see her oncologist now that she has Medicare. They drew some blood for labs, and then she was to see three doctors, including Dr. L, and I think have an injection.
The first doctor was a nutritionist, who gave us some helpful, specific guidance on getting food into her. That went well.
After that, we waited in the room for quite a long time. She asked if I could go check how much longer it would be, and see if she could get a snack, so I went to do that. The doctor's assistant said she would go check on him, and directed me to a commissary to get snacks. I went over there, grabbed a Nutter Butter (the nutritionist said she should have crackers and peanut butter, this was the closest thing they had) and a sandwich for myself, or to share if she was up to it.
When I got back, Dr. L was in the room, fervently going over the results from the labs. Her calcium level is 14, which is considered critically high, hypercalcemic. He listed off the symptoms of hypercalcemia: fatigue, confusion, dehydration, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, more. Everything she's been experiencing in the last few weeks. He started a group text with her and a doctor at the Cedars-Sinai hospital, who asked her to text him as soon as we got there.
They took her over to the infusion area, gave her a bag of IV fluids plus another IV treatment, and gave her a huge shot in each butt cheek of something to bring the calcium levels down.
After an hour of IV fluids, they sent us straight to the ER. She's expected to be admitted to the hospital and will likely be here for at least 2 days.
We got to the ER just before 2. They put her in a wheelchair, checked her vitals, did an EKG, and sent us into a crowded room to wait.
We have been in the waiting room at the ER for four hours. We've been waiting so long they rechecked her vitals. They are swamped. Someone came out a little bit ago and addressed the room, explaining how ERs work and how, like, if someone gets shot, for example, they go ahead of you, so they can't offer time estimates, thanks for understanding. Then a cop came through shouting that each patient is only allowed 1 visitor and any more than that must wait outside.
On the plus side, we're at Cedars-Sinai. This is where Alyssa works. She came down on her lunch break to see us and brought me a sandwich. Unfortunately Amanda isn't allowed to eat anything right now. I'm sure we'll see her again at the end of her shift.
We left home at 8am. Zuul has been alone that whole time. I'm sure she has to go potty and is hungry. Same for Ghost and Vinz. Since Alyssa moved into the park, I usually take them out at least once a day. As soon as Amanda gets settled into a room, I'm gonna take off to go do that, and also pack her a bag for the next few days in the hospital. I'm gonna pick up Chelsea on the way, so Amanda will have another friendly face to visit tonight as well.
Dr. L and the Cedars doctor have both confirmed via text that the hospital is aware of her and that she's been here for over 4 hours, they're just waiting for a bed to put her in.
I'll post updates as I have them. Love you all.
6:51pm
My understanding of the situation is that this is common in cases where cancer, especially breast cancer, has spread to the bones. The cancer is literally pushing the calcium out of the bones so it's accumulating in the organs.
No comments:
Post a Comment