Day of Spasms/Pain

I reread my last post and realized that I was hoping it was the C. Diff causing Larry his problems. I guess that tells you where we are at this point.

He was able to keep down about 1/4 cup of cream of wheat and 1/4 cup of broth as of this posting. They may or may not set him up with this nutritional IV called TPN, toal parenteral nutrition. I was told it has numerous side effects. They will have to give him another vein catheter to use since he still needs his port open.

They may or may not do a lower bowel test tomorrow. His Oncologist feels it is a waste of money. The GI Dr says that the cat scan does not always show everything(the Oncologist did agree)  Larry seems to want the test feeling he has a bowel obstruction. However, he is still going everyday so there probably is no obstruction .

Since eating even a small amount he has been in a lot of pain with those horrible spasms. They are worse now, vibrating more of his body. The morphine is a low dose and does help much. Nothing he has been given has taken the spasms or pain away.

He had a very difficult time even talking today. Seemed to make the spasms worse and brought back those hiccups. Had the hiccups for 4 hrs straight.

The only time he seems to look good and feel better is after he receives a steroid injection.
Things keep changing, this is what today brought.

Cancer or C. Diff Leftovers?

Larry's endoscopy showed some inflammation in his esophagus but no reason as to why he cannot keep food or drink down. After the procedure and when I left the hospital very late last night he was miserable. His stomach spasms are back and he is very anxious. It has now been 8 days since he had any food or drink. We are very worried that the pancreatic cancer is causing his problems. Looks like I will again have to ask about additional testing without someone deciding that it should be done. We have not had any Dr. explain what is next. Tomorrow I am contacting each Dr personally. I am also going to set up an appt. with someone in hospital administration about the lack of coordination, communication, poor decision making, poor response and why we are still in the dark after the 5th day of hospitalization.

Could his colon be messed up from the C. Diff? I was not able to find any information on spasm or vomiting with C. Diff. Larry had one negative stool culture C. Diff test. When I asked about false negatives, the answer was very vague. Again per the web, not the Dr's, I find that 3 negative stool tests is the best proof that it is under control. False negatives occur when specimens are not promptly tested or kept refrigerated until testing can be done.Clostridium difficile toxin is very unstable. The toxin degrades at room temperature and may be undetectable within 2 hours after collection of a stool specimen. Molecular tests: FDA-approved PCR assays, which test for the gene encoding toxin B, are highly sensitive and specific for the presence of a toxin-producing Clostridium difficile organism. http://www.cdc.gov/hai/organisms/cdiff/cdiff_faqs_hcp.html