ERCP/Pancreatitis Part 3

When we arrived on the fifth floor we discovered that Rick would have a roommate. Apparently the hospital was very full that night. I had this sinking feeling because I knew that I wasn't supposed to stay in the room when there is another patient in it. But little did I know that my mom was looking out for me and asked the nurses if I could stay in the room and arranged for me to get a recliner to sleep in. Rick asked for a private room and was put on the waiting list.

It was crazy getting him settled. There were lots of questions to answer. Rick told the nurse that I could answer for him because he wasn't feeling up to it, but the nurse didn't seem very impressed with that and kept looking at him after I answered the questions. Another nurse was setting up the PCA pump, you know those pain pumps with a button to push that gives nice pain meds. When all of that was finally finished my mom and Heather left, I think it was around midnight by that time.

Unfortunately Rick's roommate had different plans than us and kept his light on all night long. Rick was up retching most of the night and in between episodes couldn't get any sleep because the old man had his light on. He apparently had a "condition" that required him to leave his light on at night so that he could read whenever he couldn't sleep. He called it his valium. Rick was ready to kill him and I was plotting how to smother him with my pillow. I think I may have gotten a combined total of an hour of sleep. Maybe.

Here he is in the middle of the night trying to rest. Can you see how bright that light is?


I just felt so bad for Rick. There wasn't anything that I could do except just stand beside him and stroke his hair. I don't know about anyone else, but that always helps me feel better. What made it even worse for him was that he was not allowed to have anything by mouth. He was not allowed to have a sip of water even after throwing up all that nasty stuff. I won't describe it but it was really disgusting. They did bring him these little spongy things he could use to swab out his mouth, but that just didn't really cut it. And to make things even more unbearable he was put on bed rest, which meant he wasn't allowed to get out of bed. We found out later the next day that he was on bed rest because of his back. Apparently someone got some wrong information and thought that his back made him unstable. Once that got straightened out he was allowed to get out of bed and use the bathroom.

He slept pretty much the entire day on thursday. He only woke a couple times to push the pain button and to throw up. Other than that I just sat next to his bed and watched him sleep. My mom came to the hospital and sat with me. And she sat with Rick while I went home to shower and get some supplies for the hospital. It was later that afternoon that Rick was finally transferred to a private room on the seventh floor. It was so nice to finally have some peace and quiet, and privacy.

Rick finally got a break from the retching for a few hours. Luckily the next morning would be the last time he would actually throw up. However the pain was still very bad, and it was pretty unbearable whenever he had to get up to use the bathroom. Pretty soon he did have to start getting up quite frequently because they were pumping him full of IV fluids. But it was sad to see how much he was hurting, especially when he had to get up. I had to keep persuading him to use the pain pump because he didn't want to use it. The nurses and I had to convince him that he didn't have to be in pain, and that he would heal faster if his body wasn't in pain.

So by this point he has been in the hospital for 24 hours. I am still hanging in there, but it is starting to wear on me.

I think this is enough for now. I will continue later tonight. I hope you all aren't bored with this. I kinda want it all written down as a reminder for myself. And maybe someone else is interested in it too. Right Jackie?!?!

Until next time,
Jaime