feeling closed in

[Guest guest]

Hi to all. Kristy is still in the hospital waiting for her whipple

surgery .And they say they still want it to calm down but I think

this is the best she is going to get until they get it done.She is

so tired of waiting that she is starting to feel closed in and

depressed . Last night she had a seizure that scared everyone to

death!She has never had one before. They have her on 10 mg of demerol

(PCA) every ten minutes and every 4 hrs. they were giving her 125mg.

(shot) But they took the shot away and said that the demerol was too

much for her .She remains on the PCA pump. She went in weighing

109lbs. and now she weighs 100 lbs. They are going to start a pic

line or central line tommorrow.I don't know what else to do to keep

her mind occupied so she doesn't stress about the surgery.Any advice??

She is starting to get scared about the surgery . deedee

[Guest guest]

Deedee,

Another help is if your daughter has some favourite tapes/cd's to

listen to. She can relax listening to her own music. I used to play

mine on a CD and Tape deck, not using earplugs though, (I didn't

have it up very loud) just to keep the same effect as if I was

living at home and listening to my music.

I would also take my knitting with me, or other craft things to work

on. These came in especially handy when I was hospitalized for 2 1/2

months straight at one time.

If you don't already, you could also ask the doctor, if it is okay

by them (and she is still eating solid food or soups) for you to

cook for her and bring the food in. Another touch of home, and

tastes much better also. My doctors allowed me to eat small amounts

whilst I was also on TPN, so long as I could tolerate it. My mum

used to bring in steamed vegetables, and different types of

homecooked soups and stews..I usually didn't eat the meat..too heavy

for me, but it sure was better than the same meal every tuesday of

the week and wednesday etc..

If I can think of anything else, I'll be sure to pass it along to

you.

[Guest guest]

Deedee,

I forgot how old Kristy is, so I'm not sure how appropriate some of

these are: see if you can find some hobby or something to keep her busy

while she is in there. See if she might be interested in needlepoint,

cross-stitch, beadwork (jewelry), scrap-booking, card-making, making

pictures with stamp-pads, drawing, paint-by-numbers, latch-hook rugs,

anything that she can do that will take her mind off of being in there.

I always bring my cross-stitching and several books to keep me occupied.

Kimber

--

Kimber

Vallejo, CA

hominid2@...

Note: All advice given is personal opinion, not equal to that of a licensed

physician or health care professional.