Jessica is still very sick....

6:18pm
I spoke to Jessica's pulmonary doctor this afternoon and am waiting for her to call in a prescription for prednisone and an antibiotic. The doctor said she wasn't able to call it in right then but said she would a little later - I have to say I'm not impressed that it's not 2 hours later and still no call. I've tried calling her back and only received her voice mail but I've left 2 messages... one because I found some prednisone here at the house and just need to know how much to give Jess and two... because I had realized that our dumb pharmacy closes really early on Saturdays and would need the doc to call in the script for the antibiotic to a different pharmacy.

Jessica is wheezing more heavily now and I am getting nervous. I HATE this feeling. Her breathing is different than yesterday morning... it's not as heavy but there is noise in between each inhale and exhale. I'm sure she will improve once she starts the prednisone - at least I hope she will.

Austin is very worried about her too. Of course I didn't tell him how worried I am but I did acknowledge his concern. She has only been "this" sick for two days. She has been coughing for a few days - although Jess said she thought it has been 3 weeks. It feels like 3 weeks!

8:30pm
So.... still no call from the pulmonary doc. She has usually been on top of this kind of thing so I'm shocked she hasn't called me back. I found Jessica's "Asthma action plan" and saw that she can take the Xopenex breathing treatments every 2 hours and the starting amount of Prednisone is 40mg. I do remember giving her that much so I went ahead and gave it to her at 7:00pm. I can't wait all night and I don't want to be having to give it to her in the middle of the night every night.

I had Karl and Brandon move the recliner into Jessica's bedroom. It's a pain to move but I know I'm going to be in there most of the night tonight so I need to be able to get some rest while I'm in there. I remember when we bought that chair - 4 1/2 years ago - it was when Jessica was having lung bleeds and was placed into home hospice. We put it into her room so that I could be there with her and I was - practically 24/7 for months until we started the morphine therapy and the lung bleeds ceased.

Jessica says that her tummy really hurts and that it felt better when she threw up this morning. She wishes that she could throw up and get it over with so that her tummy can feel better. She has been sipping on soda all day and I've been able to get her to eat a tiny bit of jello. She still isn''t taking in very much fluids tho and she says her head aches... she hasn't had her light on at all today except for when I needed to plug in her pulse-ox. She said that her heart felt like it was pounding really hard but when I checked it, she had a good steady beat, pulse was 78 and her O2 level was at 74%. All that is normal for her. I'm glad she wasn't having any PVCs.

I'm giving her morphine for pain but am worried about which of her other 4953847274 meds she should take and which she shouldn't. Should I give her the diurretics? She isn't taking in very much fluids and I don't want her to get dehydrated? She did not get them yesterday for this very reason but do I continue to hold them? Should I give her the Miralax? I don't want her to get constipated and risk her getting a bowel obstruction but again, I don't want her to get dehydrated. She isn't able to swallow her Carafate so she hasn't taken that for 2 days (it's supposed to be taken 3 times a day on an empty stomach to treat gastritis and ulcers). I have given her the Digoxin and Toporol for her heart function and 1/2 of her Xifaxan for her stomach.

Karl is sitting with her right now. I'm trying to decide whether to shower right now or not... chances are that as soon as I become unavailable, the doctor will call. I have several questions for her (see paragraph above) and I want to be able to talk to her myself. Or I could run to the local stop-n-rob for a diet coke... but then again, I'm sure to miss the call.

9:55pm
My mom called and we chatted for a little while. Then Karl realized that Brandon's Sunday clothese were still dirty and we got the laundry started. Jess needed to go to the bathroom and lashed out at both Karl and I twice. She practically snarled as she yelled. She's gotta be in a lot of pain to act like that - - and of course she is on Prednisone. Gosh I hate that stuff!

Still no call from the pulmonary doctor. *ggrrr*