Today is the 9th Day Since Dad’s First Chemotherapy Treatment
Today isn’t looking as good as yesterday.
10:00am
He slept until about 9:30, and then he got up and got a shower. When he came downstairs, I asked him if he wanted coffee, and he said he would make it. Then he stood there for a second and said that he doesn’t understand why his balance is off. He said that he is afraid to get a shower now because he is afraid of falling. It really upset me to hear him talk like that. He is such an independent person, and has never been the type to expect people to wait on him. I know the doctor’s say that he should get some exercise, but I don’t think they know how his condition has progressed, as they did not know him before his diagnosis, and they can’t see how he feels every day.
I again told him that I think he should call the doctor, and he agreed to call today.
He ate a bowl of cereal, sipped on a cup of coffee, and sat back down in the chair. He has been dozing in and out since. He was not interested in the newspaper today. At least not yet.
2:00pm
Dad called his oncologist and left a message. Waiting on a call back.
5:30pm
Dad woke up from his nap. I was in my office working when he came back and sat down. He mentioned having alot of pain, and asked me when he took his last pain pill. I went up to double check (I always write the time down so we can keep track), and came back down to report to him that it had only been two hours. I knew from the look on his face that he could not make it another 4 hours until he could take another morphine pill.
The doctor never called him back from this afternoon. I told Dad I was calling. He said the office is closed. I said, a cancer doctor’s office is never closed. I called the number and waited past the prompt to call 911 for an emergency. It then said to hold on the line for the answering service. I held. A very nice lady answered the line, and I explained to her that my Dad was a patient of Dr. Sandhu’s and continued to explain the situation. She said, please hold on and I will see if I can get Dr. Sandhu on the line. I held for a moment, and all be damned if Dr. Sandhu did not join in on the call.
Dad and I explained to the Doctor the kind of pain he was feeling and that it had only been 2 hours since he last took a pain pill. She advised him to take 2 pills every 6 hours (every 4 if absolutely necessary) until Monday, and that we should call into the office on Monday.
My sister and my niece came over to visit for a while.
I gave Dad another pain pill per Doctor’s orders.
