The weekend

Well, it's Sunday night and we've made it a full 2 days at home!  The first night was a little rocky.  The patient (Craig) was not as compliant as he'd been at the hospital!  He wanted to do things his way and of course I thought we should do it the way I had set up!  When it was midnight and I wanted to go to sleep, he was ready to stay up for awhile (he'd had a few naps!)  I felt responsible for his well-being and wanted him to just go to sleep!  We were up and down all night and it was stressful.  Chase did his best to keep everyone sane!

There is lots of stuff to figure out quickly.  6 shots a day of octreotide.  I'm ok at giving the shots but I'm not the greatest at filling the syringes.  I'm getting better but keeping pressure in the syringe while adding medicine from a 2nd vial is tricky.  We had a nurse come each day at 2 pm to help change the bag of dextrose in his pack.  This requires flushing his lines to keep them clean and adding heparin to the extra line to keep clots from forming.  Lots of alcohol wipes and caps and connecting lines and keeping them sterile all the way.  Respect your nurses!  They go through A LOT of training and know a lot of things!  Our home nurse was very patient and helpful in showing us what to do and the reasons for doing everything.

On Saturday morning when we checked his blood sugar it was 78.  That was scary because in the hospital they would be giving him an extra shot of D50 if it dropped below 100.  So we had to quickly have him drink juice and eat waffles with syrup to bring it up.  His steady blood sugars of the last few days were not going to be consistent.  Who knows if anything is really helping to lower the insulin production?

The highlight of Saturday was hearing from Maddie and Mitch in London!  They arrived Saturday morning and sent pictures of their travels the first few days.  Here they are in front of Buckingham Palace.  We miss them so much but are so excited for their adventures in Europe!

Chase went back to LA tonight and we will definitely miss him around the house.  He has been a huge help and fun to have around for comedy and emotional support (for his mom)!  Chase was very devoted to us and spent most of his time at the hospital with us.  Last night all his friends came over to watch the NCAA games with Craig and it was so much fun to have all "our boys" here.  They  watched Wallace and Gromit shows too for a blast from the past.  Craig loved having them here.  Thanks Chase for taking good care of both of us.  You will be missed!

By Sunday night we've had many visitors and lots of lovely food brought over.  Thank you to everyone we know who are taking such good care of us.  We are feeling very loved and supported.