Oh, Dor... not the Benadryl...

Mom's status has continued to improve while remaining at the University of Washington Medical Center.  Her pain has decreased from a "9 out of 10" to a "3 out of 10".  That is a pretty big change from the Dor who checked into the hospital on Wednesday. 

Mom stopped taking pain meds via her port this evening, which meant she was able to get the bandage removed from her chest.  The only thing she has consistently complained about has been the bandage and how itchy it is.  The bandage has to remain 100% sterile so the same bandage has been on her chest since she checked into SCCA on Tuesday.  She is allergic to a few things... one of which is the cleaning solution they use on her chest prior to accessing the port.  She learned that a while back when she broke out in hives, and had a red, irritated chest.  She is wearing a wristband that lists her allergies. 

Tonight, after they removed the bandage mom took a shower.  When she came back into her hospital room her chest was red, inflamed, and clearly irritated.  A nurse asked mom what she had come into contact with.  They had talked about using hydrocortizone on her chest but there were mixed messages in her records about whether she was allergic to it.  When the nurse asked if she was allergic to it she said, "No, they tested me for it last year.  It came back that I wasn't allergic to hydrocortizone, just Benadryl".  HELLO... she has been complaining for three days about an itchy chest bandage and they have been giving her BENADRYL to relieve it.  None of us knew about the benadryl, and clearly she had forgotten about it until tonight.  SCCA was called and her records have been updated to reflect the allergy.  Between the heavy dosage of pain meds this week... and the multiple shots of Benadryl... she has been a little "coo-coo for coco puffs" (if you know what I mean).

It was nice to see the old Dor back today.  She was still tired but much more alert, feeding herself, and going for walks.  As of now, the plan is to take her home on Saturday if all goes well.  I think she is looking forward to sleeping in her own bed.  There really is, No Place Like Home...

Thanks again for all of your well wishes.

Amy