Pete was admitted to the hospital on December 21st to begin his chemotherapy treatment. The treatment started on December 23rd and was administered once a day through December 27th. The treatment has lowered his blast count from 190,000 to about 1,000, which is a great outcome. The doctors have been impressed with how much his blast count has dropped in such little time.
After a few days of observation Pete was discharged, but not before loading him up with 101 medicines to take again. It's really more like 10 to 15 medicines, but it feels like alot more. Pete doesn't seem to mind taking most of them since he knows that they are all helping in some way. The only ones he doesn't like taking are the steriods (no, not the kind that Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire took to help them hit home runs). These actually create additional pain in his bones, but are necessary to help his body withstand the chemo.
This brings us to today. After being at home for about a day, Pete's pain became pretty intolerable, so we brought him to the emergency room. The nurses and doctors usually ask patients what level of pain they are feeling, with the pain ranging from 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest level of pain and 10 being the worst level of pain). Pete's headache and pain in his throat are both currently 10's. I think I have only been with Pete a few times when his pain was greater than an 8, so I can tell he isn't feeling well.
To make matters worse, the emergency room is full and there is no telling when Pete will see a doctor or more importantly, the much needed morphine. We overheard a couple telling others in the wait area that they had been waiting for over 3 and a half hours. Two other patients left because of how long they waited without treatment.
After 4 and a half hours of waiting, Pete is finally in a room and sleeping a little...
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