The Hospital Stay

Jerry was admitted to the hospital where they started running test.  He was anemic and had to be given 4 units of blood.  The gastroenterologist told us there had to be some internally and they probably needed to do a scope of some kind.

Dr. Kovoor came in and told us Jerry had multiple tumors on his liver and some suspicious spots on his lungs.  He then told us the tumors were probably cancer.  He said they would do a biopsy but he was so sure about it that he was going to move Jerry to the oncology floor of the hospital.

On Thursday they did the biopsy and put a tube into Jerry's liver to drain it into a bag.  The gastroenterologist came in and told us that he was going to do a colonoscopy in a few days and at the same time the surgeon was going to move Jerry's drain to a better place.  They also planned to put a port in to make it easier to draw blood and if necessary do the chemo treatments.  The colonoscopy was to determine where the bleeding was coming from and where the cancer originated from.

Friday the gastroenterologist asked Jerry if he wanted to go home for the weekend.  I was silently praying Jerry would say no, not because I didn't want him home, but because there were 6 dogs at my house.  Jerry did say no and said he would feel better staying at the hospital.

I'm glad  he said no because on Saturday he had several strokes.

Saturday around noon my daughter, Amanda, brought my mom in to see Jerry.  We all sat around talking when Amanda said she was dizzy.  When it was time for my mom to leave I tried to talk Amanda into letting her sister, Stephanie, go with her.  She said no she was fine.  My mom hugged Jerry then me and as Amanda was about to hug Jerry she passed out.  I got her over to the chair and asked one of the nurses to check her over.  They did and suggested I take her to the ER just in case.  I asked Stephanie to take my mom home while I took Amanda to the ER.

We wheeled Amanda down to the ER and got her checked in.  I told Amanda I was going back up to Jerry's room to get my drink.  Jerry seemed fine at that point so I got my drink and headed back down to the ER to sit with Amanda.  After about 30 minutes I developed a head ache so I told Amanda I was going back to the room to get some ibuprofen.  When I walked in Jerry was leaning sideways and making some noises.  I asked if he was okay and he said yes.  Then he asked me where I had been.  I said in the ER with Amanda.  He then said the one thing that scared me so bad.  He said "What happened to Amanda?".  I asked him if he was kidding with me and he said no.  I told him she passed out next to his bed.  He said he didn't remember.  I immediately got on the telecom and asked a nurse to come to his room right away that something was wrong. 

The nurse rushed in and I explained what happened.  She had Jerry pull on her fingers with both hands.  He seemed fine in that department.  The she asked him his name and birth date.  He is always the joker so he told her he was Bill Clinton.  I told him he needed to be serious.  So he told her his full name and birthday correctly.  The nurse then asked him if he knew the date.  He couldn't remember.  She asked him if he knew who the president was, but he couldn't remember that either.  He had basically forgotten the last few years of his life, including my name.

After several MRI's they determined he had several small strokes caused by blood clots breaking loose.  That is when the blood thinners started. 

Jerry kept asking us to "fill him in".  Then he would say, "The last thing I remember is...never mind".
His speech was clear and his muscles strong on both sides.  The stroke just affected his short term memory.  I sat all evening telling him the same thing over and over again.  He would forget as soon as I told him.  Eventually his memory started to come back little by little.  It started with him remembering that Kidd Kraddick had passed away.  He told me, "Patsy is going to be upset".  What is funny is Patsy didn't listen to Kidd Kraddick, but I did.  He kept remembering that and every time I moved during the night he would ask me if he dreamed it. 

He eventually remembered everything except the day of the stroke.  He doesn't remember my mom being there or Amanda passing out.

Because of the stroke and the blood thinners it was decided not to do the procedures they planned to do.  The plan was he would stay on the blood thinners for a few weeks then go off long enough to have the procedures done.

Jerry stayed in the hospital for another week.  During that week it was confirmed he had cancer, and it probably originated in the lower bowel, but had metastasized to the liver and other parts of his body.  They also told us it was terminal but because they didn't know where the cancer originated from they couldn't tell us  how long he had left.

The following Saturday I brought Jerry home.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish this blog and will be caught up to the current time.  Tonight I will start a new blog about my current life as a caregiver.