As the hours wore on she continued to throw up anything and
everything. She was constantly nauseous and in pain. The more time went on the
less energy she had and the only thing she was able to focus on was me. Later
she told me that her only goal was to get me home from Mexico before she “dropped
dead”. At this point she was getting so weak I was worried she was going to end
up with permanent damage. The nurses were no help at all just coming in and
emptying our drains and getting her a new container to throw up in.
The next conversation had to take place thru the language
barrier between us and the nurses. When I asked to see the doctor they just
told us that they weren’t in and we would have to wait for the surgeon. They didn’t
even have a definite time on when the surgeon would be in just that she would
be there “in the late afternoon.” Finally asking to see the doctor on call they
told me that there was no one, I couldn’t believe that they wouldn’t have a
doctor present at a hospital at all times.
While this was going on there was a man nearby who heard
what was going on. He came in and after introducing himself (I think he said he
was the head of the hospital’s board of directors but I am not positive)
offered to help translate and find a solution. During the conversation with the
nurses they said that there was nothing else that they could do for her except
give her more anti-nausea medication. This had already been tried twice earlier
and consisted of a very large needle injected into her butt. The look on her
face when she saw the needle was priceless and only got better when they told
her where it was going.
When he asked what we wanted them to do I said that we just
needed her well enough to fly home. This confused him and he asked what that
would accomplish. I said that I just needed her well enough for me to get her
home where we would take her to a Canadian hospital. This seemed to light a
fire under all of their asses. I guess that leaving Mexico sick to go to a
hospital in Canada to get better wasn’t what they had in mind.
After he found a doctor they said that there was nothing
they could do without putting the IV back in. Because she was unable to keep
anything down an IV would be the only way to keep her hydrated and the most
effective way to deliver needed medications. We agreed and it took them another
four tries to get it situated, at one point they even tried to put it in her
armpit, which is something they DO NOT do in Canada. They also didn’t want her
to try and drink anything else for the next twenty-four hours.
It wasn’t a good night. She had to continually call the
nurses to come empty her drain (which would fill at a rate of about four times
for every one of mine) and get her an empty pan to throw up in. Twice she
accidentally threw up on nurses during particularly violent episodes. To say we
were exasperated by the time the surgeon showed up in the afternoon is an understatement.
The Surgeon decided to send her for another scan to see if there were any leaks
or blockages they hadn’t discovered before.
This time the Surgeon went with her to have the test and she
started by going thru the same process as before, standing in the machine and
drinking the contrast. It didn’t work like they wanted though and after a few
minutes of maneuvering her around and trying to get the contrast to move they decided
to send her back to the room to wait fifteen minutes. When she went back the
second time the surgeon’s assistant was there and the contrast still had not
moved.
After reviewing the results the doctor came back and said
that there were no leaks but her tract was so swollen and inflamed that nothing
was able to move on passed the pouch and so she was throwing up anything she
ingested. To me this only made sense as far as what she was drinking, but where
was all the extra stuff coming from? An extra night’s stay was ordered to keep
an eye on her and she was told not to drink anything until he came back the
next day. Until then he was going to order the anti-nausea medication be upped.
Having gone thru all of this and worrying that if she is
still throwing up they might not let her on the plane we requested that they
issues us both a “Safe to fly” letter. He said that he would talk to our coordinator
and have it ready when we were discharged.
At this point with how well everything has been going I am
skeptical, but we will see.
XOXO, Evie & Ally