Last night was in his own words, “The worst night of my life.”
We followed instructions and took the anti-nausea meds as instructed. First dose was around 7pm. Kevin watched tv but started getting sensitive to light around 7:30pm and we headed up to bed. He seemed really just tired at first but kept repeating, “I don’t know if it’s just in my head but I feel like I’m going to be nauseas but I’m not yet.” He was definitely out of sorts. Then about 8:30 it really started hitting him. He went to that bathroom and got sick.
In the 13 years we’ve been together, the last 9 living together, he has never thrown up in front of me. He’s never actually been “sick” with a stomach flu that induced vomitting. I just assume he has an iron gut. Well, he didn’t want to get sick in front of me last night. I kept checking on him and he would say, “I’ll get it together but just give me some time. I don’t want you to see this.” Kevin, with chemo drugs poisoning his body, was trying to save me from gagging and getting sick because I have a “weak stomach.” God I love this man and his tremendous heart. ♥️
Finally got him to the bed. Although he has a garbage pale next to the bed, the next time he felt sick, he ran to the bathroom again. By this time he was really in bad shape and definitely a bit out of it. He was soaked in sweat. He just wanted to lay on the floor. So, I grabbed a thick quilted mattress pad, laid it out across the bathroom floor, brought him a pillow, and I called the after hours nurse. That really wasn’t any help but was told to give him ice chips and ginger ale. If he didn’t stop vomitting call back.
I couldn’t get him up and he said he just wanted to sleep there. So, I grabbed my own pillow and stayed with him. When he woke, saw me laying there, he got the strength to get up and make it to the bed.
The rest of the night was dry heaves and nausea. About 6am I texted Cathy, our guardian angel, and most caring amazing lady I know. Cathy is the Breast Cancer Oncology director for Kaiser. I’ve tried not to abuse our friendship because I know she deals with cancer every day. I’ve tried limiting my texts after hours for advice, but I was at a loss what to do. Oncology wouldn’t be open for 3 more hours. So I texted. She returned my texts with great advice. Her reassurance to take the steroids even if he is vomitting was enough to get Kevin to do it. Almost immediately he slept for a few hours. By then oncology nurses were open and Cathy had already talked to them about additional nausea script that dissolves and acts quickly.
Additionally, I was relieved to hear 21st Century had already called right after our appointment when the machine malfunctioned, and also recommended Ativan for anxiety. They really felt awful about the incident the day before and we do understand machines fail. Mistakes can happened. It’s the way a person or business handles a mistake that makes the difference. I appreciate they followed up to make sure we have that script. It’s not just that one malfunction, but they can see he has some clostrophibia issues and has been trying to manage them himself.
What the Ativan also means is that he will not be able to drive himself to his radiation appts. It will require me to be there every day. That’s okay, I can’t imagine not being there anyhow. I’m truly blessed to be married to this amazing man. ♥️🙏🏼♥️💪🏼♥️☘️♥️😘♥️
(Please note: I am finally publishing this a day late. Obviously I won’t always have time to write and edit in the same day.)
(Wait- after I typed this I remembered his 50th birthday and the Statue of Liberty shots! I had seen Kevin sick once before. In his drunken stupor, he didn’t care or know I saw him! That’d be another blog story someday. 😉)
Cimoli Strong 