Migraine Misery :(

This was a tough week for Rianne to say the least. Just when we thought that she had endured the worse possible pain, she developed a migraine yesterday that put her in the Emergency Room for over 4 hours. It has been a very frustrating 2 weeks off, as we expected her to improve consistently. Instead, she has continued to struggle.
On Tuesday she went to the dentist to receive a temporary crown on a tooth that chipped a couple of weeks ago. We have been told that the Radiation Treatment is tough on the dental work, so we made sure to get her chipped tooth crowned before she is deep into the treatments. It could be up to 3 weeks before the permanent crown arrives, so we were insistent in getting the temporary crown put in. We were fortunate to have our dentist work her into the schedule and get the temporary put in on Tuesday.
While she was in the dentist chair, I called her Oncologist to receive instruction on what to do for her fever, which continued to harass her throughout the day. We were instructed to take her to the Emergency Room so that she could be “processed.” The nurses drew blood to check her counts, took a urine sample, took a chest x-ray and the doctor checked her heart, lungs, throat, eyes and ears. All looked good, which has stumped her Oncologist because he and we know that something is amiss. That evening we continued to fight the fever with Tylenol, as we have for well over a week.
On Wednesday she continued to struggle with fatigue, sore shoulders and the mild fever. She just didn’t feel very good all day long. She laid flat most of the day, getting up to eat lunch and sit on the deck to watch the hummingbirds feed in her 7 feeders. They help get her mind off things temporarily, but the radiation scheduled for Monday is causing her stress and anxiety already. She went to bed early that evening.
On Thursday she woke after 10:00 and relaxed on the deck, again watching the hummingbirds. We ate lunch and I checked her temperature, which was close to normal all day. I asked her if she had a headache and she said she was doing fine.
Around 3:00 she said she needed to lie down and went into the bedroom. I sat on the bed and typed on the laptop while she tried to rest. She suddenly felt a headache and took a couple of pain killers in an attempt to combat it. It didn’t let up and she soon felt nauseated. Minutes later she ran to the bathroom and vomited. When she returned she lied back down and mentioned that her headache was worsening. She tried to sleep but couldn’t and around 5:30 she said that she could feel a migraine coming on.
From that point it simply got worse and worse. 30 minutes later she again rushed to the bathroom to vomit and dropped to her knees, as her head hung low toward the floor. I held her head up and could feel that she could barely support it on her own. She heaved and heaved, yet little came out of her stomach, as it was already emptied from her previous trip to the bathroom. When her stomach was done thrusting, she cried, sobbed and begged me to take her to the Emergency Room again. I tried to get her to her feet, but she couldn’t move as the pain was excruciating. I lifted her up and helped her stagger to the bedroom to get out of her nightgown and into her sweats and a t-shirt. She barely made it to the van, as the pain was more than she could bear.
We arrived at the ER at Curry General Hospital at 6:25 and she immediately had blood drawn. She received a Demerol shot around 7:15 with Zofran to reduce the nausea. Previously when she has had intense migraines, a Demerol shot conquers it and makes her drowsy enough to sleep through the night within 15 minutes of it being administered. Last night when the shot was injected, her pain was a “10” on the pain scale (1-10; 10 being the worse pain possible) and after 30 minutes her pain had not changed at all and the nausea was still there. She was well beyond miserable and it hurt her to even talk. She clutched a barf bag in her hand during the entire visit in fear that her stomach would heave while she was on the bed.
We pleaded for a second Demerol shot, which she received around 7:45. Still, her pain was excruciating, as the injection didn’t seem to touch her pain. At 8:15 the ER doctor decided to give her an injection of Dilaudid, which he felt would help her pain. Slowly the three drugs worked as her pain level decreased and the nausea lessened. At 8:45 she felt that her pain was at a “9”, which was actually a relief, as I could see that she was feeling better. When I’m in pain, “better” is a “6” or lower, but for Rianne a “9” was tolerable. As I’ve said before, she absolutely humbles me with what she has experienced since this ordeal began. Minutes later, the doctor ordered another Dilaudid shot and it was administered just before 9:00.
She lied on the bed with the lights turned off until the radiologist wheeled her into a room for a CT Scan. Blood tests and urine sample were fine, which ruled out an infection, so the CT Scan was necessary to search for an aneurism or tumor. The CT Scan results soon returned and were negative. Shortly after 9:00 Hap Flynn showed up to visit and show support for Rianne - and his timing was perfect, as she was steadily improving. She was able to talk again without as much pain and told us that her pain was down to an “8.” At 10:45 we thanked Hap for his visit, slowly walked out of the Emergency Room, loaded ourselves into the van and drove home.
Rianne staggered into the house, clinging onto my arm as I led her in the door, then slipped into the bed, looking very foggy to say the least. She plunked her head on her pillow and appeared to be out for the night. I brought the dogs into the house and checked on her. She insisted that she needed to take her nightly medication, so I gave her the pills with a cup of water. 5 minutes later she sat up, grabbed the trash can next to the bed and literally blew them out of her stomach. I stood next to her in disbelief that her stomach rejected the pills and projected them out of her with that much force. She lied back down and again tried to sleep, but couldn’t. 30 minutes later she tried to take her sleeping pills and succeeded in keeping them down. She was now slightly wired and kept looking up at the TV from her pillow next to me. I finally decided to just turn off the TV and scratch her arm to soothe her into falling asleep, which she soon did.
She slept soundly throughout the night, sleeping in until 11:00 this morning. We could tolerate no more and again contacted her Oncologist. He directed us to drive to Coos Bay today to have her endure another Lumbar Puncture to again check her spinal fluid. Meningitis is a major concern when the spine is accessed, especially as many times as she has been contacted, which is now in double figures. We arrived at Bay Area Hospital for her 2:30 appointment and her fluid was drawn. The surgeon spoke with each of us and felt that her fluid looked clean, but also advised us that the lab would need to analyze it. We left the hospital 30 minutes after the appointment, stopped to pick up a birthday present for our grandson, Brant, who is 2 years old today, then headed for Gold Beach. We stopped at the Wardle home to give Brant his gift, visited for a few minutes, then got Rianne home to rest.
She had a better day today than most this week. She had a slight headache for a good portion of the day, but ate a good breakfast, lunch and dinner and didn’t feel nauseated, even during the trip to Coos Bay. She felt decent after arriving home and watched a movie while resting on the couch. She even took her meds tonight without having them thrown across the room by her angry stomach, which is always a plus! As I finish typing this entry, she is softly snoring in the bed next to me, which is actually a very welcome sound to me, as it shows that she is finally resting comfortably!!