Day Zero Plus Fifty-two – RAT Diet

Nurse Paul came this morning for Jeff’s labs, dressing change, etc.  He and Jeff discussed Jeff’s gut trouble and decided he ought to be tested for C Diff again.  There followed several phone calls – Nurse Heather at Dr. Porter’s office, the home infusion pharmacist, the home infusion supply coordinator and the CVS pharmacist.  There were a couple of trips to CVS. 

Jeff has been suffering with frequent bouts of diarrhea and cannot eat much without feeling nauseous or stuffed.  The Gastric Emptying Study done on Friday showed nothing abnormal, so it was decided that Jeff should be treated for C Diff – again.  Meanwhile, a lab culture has been ordered to see if it is, in fact, C Diff that is causing his problems.  If it isn’t, he will undergo a “procedure” to determine whether the problem is Graft Versus Host Disease (GVHD).  Jeff doesn’t want to think about what that “procedure” will entail but he thinks one of the nurses mentioned endo-something so maybe it is a camera-look-see kind of thing.   

We will continue to give IV fluids at home.  Heather suggested the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) but Jeff is leery of bananas as they seem to cause problems.  So, he is referring to his diet as the RAT diet.  He asked for cinnamon sugar for his toast and I thought that was a great idea to add a little flavor.  I happily made up a bit of it and served it at lunchtime.  Then at dinnertime when Jeff asked for it again, Keith said, “Can he have cinnamon if it isn’t cooked?”  Drat!  He’s right!  We read about how cinnamon is harvested and, like a lot of spices, it is not processed much.  It isn’t cooked.  I may try cooking some up in a pan with butter and see whether that will spread on toast satisfactorily.  He must not feel too rotten because he asked if ice cream was on the RAT diet, RAIT?

Jeff had a sleepy day today.  He is weak and tired.  Not too tired for our evening walk, though.  He asked me if we could drive a few blocks away from the house for a different starting point.  We have walked two blocks in every direction from our house and he was looking for a change of scenery.  Good idea!  Giblet enjoyed checking out all the different pee-mail messages.  We walked only one block, a long block around the athletic field, returned to the car and came home.  Jeff calls Giblet our “slave-driver” because she never lets a day go by without demanding a walk. 

We have been thinking about Jeff from Conshohocken, our Jeff’s walking partner at HUP.  We have been able to keep in touch with him because he is on the same schedule for follow-up visits as our Jeff.  Last week we saw his wife, Marie, at the Perelman Center at HUP and she told us that stem cells were being harvested from her Jeff in preparation for his autologous stem cell transplant.  Unfortunately, after five days of harvesting, fewer than half of the required quantity of cells had been collected.  He’d already endured a liver transplant and a hospital stay of many months.  I don’t know what steps will be taken next (stranger donor?) but Marie’s Jeff could sure use our prayers, too.