4.9 Montefiore Monday

I'm finally up to date with the posting. Whew.

One of the things I forgot to mention about yesterday's update is that Dad thinks the sinus infection is returning. He is having more headaches in his sinus'. Also, they were considering that he may be suffering from migraines. Still trying to figure it all out.

Today was another bad day starting at 7am. They gave Dad Imitrex, Zofran and Tylenol at first. Imitrex for the possible migraine diagnosis, Zofran for the nausea. Talking with Mom today I found out that Dad has been having a headache with the pain and nausea. The Tylenol was for that.

Mom called at 7.30am and didn't initially get through. At 7.45am when she was walking into the Cathedral of Learning Dad called her back and told her that he was in pain. She was able to make it over to the hospital by 8.30am.

9.00am they gave Dad one unit of Dilaudid through his IV. That took the pain down to a 1 of 10, but the pain was still nagging and never went away. The nurses attempted 3 oral doses of Dilaudid, which did nothing to help. It seems that nothing orally is working for him once he get to a certain threshold.

Finally at 1.00pm they gave him another unit of Dilaudid, by 1.15pm the pain was gone. It only took over 6 hours to get relief.

More news. A Hematologist came in today. They tested the urine sample that sat in the fridge for a few days and it came back positive for Porphyria, a blood disorder. This is a potential diagnosis. Some highlights from the link:

"The acute porphyrias affect the nervous system. Symptoms of acute porphyria include pain in the chest, abdomen, limbs, or back; muscle numbness, tingling, paralysis, or cramping; vomiting; constipation; and personality changes or mental disorders. These symptoms appear intermittently."

"Porphyria can be triggered by drugs (barbiturates, tranquilizers, birth control pills, sedatives), chemicals, fasting, smoking, drinking alcohol, infections, emotional and physical stress, menstrual hormones, and exposure to the sun."

They started a fourth 24 hour urine collection. Dad did one over the weekend, since the second one was forgotten in the refrigerator. We'll see if this shows for sure. I'm pretty sure they will do other tests and things. It makes some sense with Dad having that sinus infection for close to 4 months. And some of the symptoms agree with what he is suffering from.

On a TOTAL side note. I was watching Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on USA. One of the characters has Porphyria. Way strange that I would watch that show today, the day that the doctors think my Dad my have this diagnosis.

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-Paige