A Day in the Palliative Care Ward with Arta - April 21

Arta about to be taken down to the operating room

April 20, Dr Svorkdal the anesthesiologist did a nerve block procedure for Arta!  Exciting.   

There is an entire post to be written about Arta's adventures during that procedure. 

It includes her asking to be told stories to distract her from the pain of the surgery, specifically, stories about bees, and having Don the Nurse let her hold his hand while he told her that he was also a beekeeper, and had been stung 5 times just the day before!  Now that was unexpected.

Making lists of things to do

But to continue with THIS story, April 21 was 'Day 1 Post Nerve Block' for Arta.  We are all crossing our fingers for the best-case outcome (a 60% reduction in pain). 

Dr. Saiger reminded us that we would need to wait a couple of days before assessing how things had gone.     

Gantry transformed to a scarf holder

So this was Day 1.  Mary did the night shift before me.  I had some some appointments scheduled for the morning, so I arrived back at the hospital a bit later in the afternoon (and perhaps a bit tired already).  

By that time, Mary (who had been there the previous 18 hours) had phoned me to say, "Come save me!  Mom is being manic!"

I took her to mean that the block must have been working, and that the Arta we know and love (and sort of fear) was re-emerging from the deep fog of pain and nausea that had marked the last 2-3 weeks.

Arta looking to find the double-decker bus

I arrived to discover that Mary was right:  in the euphoria of some combination of drugs and pain reduction, weeks of suppressed activity re-emerged.  

Arta was making list after list of tasks that needed doing, stories that needed telling, conversations that needed to happen,  emails that needed writing, surfaces that needed tidying, silver that needed polishing. And each activity needed doing immediately!  

one way to get her face and braids in one shot!

In some ways, no big deal.  Sort of like business as usual for her.  

But if you take all Arta's energy, and lay it overtop of some extreme drug-related confusion, you do get something of an ADD energizer-bunny on drugs.

In some ways, so much fun!  

In other ways, a terrifying nightmare.  

Her new Klimt scarf goes well with the hallway art!

Recall that she is still attached by tubes to a subcutaneous fentanyl pump.   

So, imagine Arta racing off in all directions (as she is wont to do), but forgetting that she is attached to tubes.  

You can well imagine Mary and I trying to keep up to her, and encourage her to NOT suddenly head over to the couch to look out the window.  

Arta points out that if we stage the photo right, you can't see her mask and it looks like she is a patron at an art gallery opening, rather than a patient in the hospital.

Of course there is nothing wrong with looking out the window.  But a person needs to remember that the pump needs to come with!  :-)

So many colours in the sky

She also needed to put on a new scarf for her walk around the ward, leaning on her walker. 

It is important to look good when you go out (aka 'leave your room')!

It probably is a 1 minute circle at regular walking speed around the ward, but much slower with a walker and a subcutaneous pump! 

I love how the horizon blurs away.

Of course, the return to the room is also wonderful.  The room is lovely and spacious, with its own bathroom, shower, sink, cupboards, foldout couch and more. 

The Palliative Ward (which has a truly exceptional team of people) is on the 8th floor of the Patient Care Centre at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, and the view from the window itself a work of art.

There is always a beautiful scene worthy of contemplation. 

We kept wondering if those clouds would bring us rain.  They didn't.

AND NOW, FOR SOME 'FACE-TO-FACE TIME'

For those who have made it this far, here are some video clips from the last day.   They are uncut, and a bit raw, but you can at least get some sense of what a gift it is for Mary and I to be able to stay here with Arta during this strange mixed up period.   Yes, the drugs do create some word loss, jumble and enthusiasm, but they have kicked back some of the pain, so we get to enjoy some of the deliciousness that is our mom.   We are still keeping our hopes up that she might be able to come back to my place sometime next week.

Video 1: In which Arta reflects on what should be done with her books.

Video 2: In which Arta and I try to give an update as the sun sets.  It is in two parts:

This first part is interrupted by a break for Taryn to give Arta her evening shot of Nozinan (another item in the toolkit of medications to address the pain and nausea).  Our video exploration then continues for another 12 minutes, with much disjointed jumping from thought to thought (thank you fentanyl).  As you will see, Arta stays entertaining even as she rides the tide of opiates!  :-) [and it is clear that we both really need some sleep]

Video 3: In which an exhausted Rebecca wonders why her mother will not just go to sleep rather than demand a midnight snack of cream of wheat porridge (is this payback for my own behaviour as a young child?!)