Morphine Makes a Difference

At 10:30 on Monday night, Tyler decided he wanted to be admitted to the hospital. The doctor had given us the option earlier in the day, but Tyler thought he might be able to tolerate the pain at home and opted to stay outpatient. Unfortunately, with his inability to take pain medication, he was unable to get any relief. On a scale of 1 to 10, he rated his pain level as a 10.

We finally got checked in and he got a shot of morphine at 2am, but it was a little bit of pain relief and very late in the game. They gave him another shot a few hours later and then, this morning, hooked him up to a PCA of morphine. A PCA is a patient controlled analgesic. Essentially, Tyler now has a button he can press to dispense another dose of morphine. After consistent use for a few hours, he estimated his pain level had finally dropped to 5-6 out of 10. The nurses have explained to us that getting early relief from pain is key to managing chronic pain like this.

We expect Tyler to be in the hospital for a few more days, so please feel free to e-mail him or comment on the blog (he gets copies of all comments made here) if you want to share with him or encourage him. He should have internet access by tonight, so he will be able to get online anytime he is feeling good. The nurses and doctors at UW have definitely explained to him that the symptoms he is experiencing from mucositis and esophagitis are not abnormal for the treatments he has gone through.

Still no update on the lumbar puncture yesterday, but we'll definitely let you all know when we know more. We know a great many people join us in hoping that the results are clear and free and we can proceed with Tyler's transplant.