Flu

Not a Good Thing

Last week my younger brother had the flu.  Hard as he tried to avoid giving it to her my mother now has the flu.  She is very short of breath and this is just day one.  She won't go to the hospital, where she could get anti virals prescribed and get checked for pneumonia.  She agreed to call an ambulance this evening, but when they got here she declared she did not want to go to the hospital, although they said one of her lungs did not sound right.  Big sigh of frustration.  Big frown of worry.  Hoping this will be OK - have had to take her in the past at 2 or 3 in the morning to the ER after she refused help the evening before.  Maybe I'm over cautious but I have seen her get really bad really fast before.

Ambulance rules have changed since the last time I had to call them for Mom's breathing issues a couple of years ago.  Then the ambulance crew would give nebulizer treatments in the home, and I think that was what Mom was looking for.  I tried to persuade her to go to the ER and get a treatment but no go, as did the ambulance crew.  They made her sign a statement that they asked her to go to the hospital and she refused, and then required me to witness it.

I checked the Missouri flu website, and flu cases are up this week compared to last, and the number of senior citizens with flu are up markedly.  The federal flu website also urges seniors to get antivirals as soon as possible because of the severity of the flu virus' going around this year.

My nephew who has been so sick on his return from China has been told he might have had a SARS like illness.  Another classmate who was on the same flight is also sick, but not quite as bad.  Not looking to be a very good year fluwise so far.  Hoping that my flu shots are good for what Mom has, so far this year not even a sniffle.  At least something works right with my body!

Going to have a sleepless night tonight, checking on Mom every so often, but better to be reassured than too late to help!

Gastric Emptying Test

Green Glowing Glutenous Oatmeal

Did my gastric emptying test today. I ate a cup of oatmeal they added radioactive markers (radioisotopes)to, and then had to lay as motionless as possible under a large sensor/scan that measured the radiation. It was pretty painful, as the pancreatitis hurts worse when I lay down compared to sitting up, but I survived.

Don't know how long it was supposed to take. I had my choice of scrambled eggs or oatmeal and since carbohydrates hurt The Belly less than proteins I chose the oatmeal. They tried to make it more tasty using the brown sugar and maple flavor oatmeal, but the isotope had a sort of off taste. Maybe it was my imagination, or perhaps it was the chlorinated water?? But I made myself swallow it. The scan itself took less than an hour.

I could see the scan as it progressed. If you have had a nuclear scan you will know what I mean - the radioactive substance shows up as little points, brighter where they are gathered in bunches (like in my stomach). I could see everytime another bunch of oatmeal made its way into my intestinal system. It was like glup, glup, glup lump, lump, lump. Pretty soon the intestines were lit up like a Christmas tree.

I was already in pain from the test, so this evening I actually ate a bite of spaghetti and broccoli for supper. Then I was REALLY in pain! The Headache decided to pitch a fit too, but I was able to crank up the voltage and stop it from getting out of hand.

Hoping to get to sleep sometime this evening. Have already used trammadol, but I don't think it is strong enough. I will take a second dose in another hour. I may have to see someone for adequate pain management and nutritional counseling if this keeps up. I probably should have gone to the ER last Friday, but I just don't have time right now to spend another three or four days in a hospital just to be stuck on IV's and heavy duty medication. I will go back on liquids tomorrow and tough it out for the next few days. I need to be at our new clients Wednesday and possible Thursday so I will just have to hold out.

The guy at the radiology department said he would try and get the scan read today and over to Dr. Hawkeye for review. Not sure if Dr. Hawkeye is in the area every week, as he has offices in several cities.

Got my Mom to take her pnuemovax vaccination today. It is good for five years, so I'm glad she took it. Tried to get the flu shot for her, but apparently they are out. I was put on the list to receive the H1N1 shot, but will have to ferret out flu vaccinations somewhere else I guess. I also got her to repeat her chest Xray from two months ago (they saw a spot and needed to re-Xray to check for growth). I worry that her cancer has returned in a new spot, but she has also had pneumonia several times in her life, so it could be scarring from that!

Listened to a nice piece about health blogging and online tracking of health conditions on NPR. There was some discussion of transparency in healthcare. I don't think a lot of practioners really want transparency. One of the issues surrounding true electronic health records is that some doctors don't want patients to have access to everything, AND they don't want other doctors to view their practices and treatments. I would imagine those that abuse the system and provider/patient privilege to their own financial advantage do not want to have their over utilization or unnecessary testing exposed to their colleagues.