Progress And Side Effects

It’s been three days since Ashtyn was admitted into the hospital with severe and debilitating neuropathic pain. The drug Pregabalin was started, which helps with nerve pain, but takes time to become effective so in the meantime Ketamine, Dilaudid, and Ativan have been used. The benefit of all these medications is that they lessen the intensity of pain. The downfall is Ketamine has caused some hallucinations, drowsiness, and tearful emotions while Dilaudid and Ativan makes her super sleepy. Pregabalin also has caused a few side effects including fatigue, jerking and twitching muscles, difficulty paying attention, and forgetfulness. Comparing her to a few days ago, she was in a lot of pain, alert, sleepless, and unable to walk. Yesterday she was in less pain, slept most of the time, had unclear thoughts and speech, and continued needing complete assistance to walk. It’s difficult for me to gauge improvements when she went from not being herself because of pain to not being herself because of sedation. Ethan has been at her bedside for 3 days straight. I know she wishes she had it in her to watch movies and hang out with him but at this point she hardly notices he’s there. With pain decreasing, the goal is for her to become more mobile, less sedated, and off the IV continuous Ketamine. She and I were suppose to fly to Salt Lake City with Ethan on Friday. I wish it were in the cards for her to go home but I don’t know if it is. Please pray that if one door closes, a better and brighter door will immediately open and that peace will continue to be felt.