Things that go BUMP in the night

Rough night last night. I had to get up to help the nurse at 2:30AM and never got fully back to sleep after that. Every time I started to drop off I would feel this rush of adrenaline and find myself wide-awake, heart racing.

It is not as though the assistance needed was life and death or anything like that, but happily, it has been a while since I have had to get up from a sound sleep to address a medical need. I guess I’m out of practice and could not just shut off the adrenaline as I used to.
I was in a dead sleep dreaming about someone trying to get me up and realized the nurse was yelling my name. That was disconcerting. We have two phone lines in the house and when they need help they call from the fax line extension in Maggie’s room and it rings right next to our bed. When I realized she was yelling I thought it was something too serious to spend time dialing. I flew down the stairs.

Maggie pulled out her gastrostomy (feeding) tube. It’s in her stomach in a surgically created hole (or ostomy) and it stays in place by a small balloon filled with water. You insert the tube with the balloon deflated and fill it up with a syringe once it’s in place. Filling it is painless; having it in there is painless. Pulling it out, with the balloon inflated is not. Maggie has done it before, but not very often. She had that shocked sheepish look on her face when I arrived at her bedside. It was a combination of sorry and YEOWCH!

The nurse was poised for action, though she was ready to rip open a box of extension tubes rather than the tube we needed. I looked at the tube Maggie had pulled out and decided to just put it back in, as it was not broken. I only have one spare right now that we are keeping in Maggie school bag so it is always with her. Usually I have a couple, but I am waiting for a delivery. No sense using the only spare if we do not have to. I deflated the balloon, reinserted it, re-inflated the balloon and gave Maggie a kiss.

I asked the nurse why she didn’t just use the phone and she told me both phones were dead. She could not get a dial tone on either one. Now that was curious. I picked up each line and the phone was working perfectly. Now it was her turn to look shocked and sheepish. I padded back upstairs where Steve was sleeping soundly (grumble). As I was getting back into bed, I CRASHED my knee into the blanket chest at the bottom of the bed. Now my face had the YEOWCH look, and I woke Steve.

Overall, it was much ado about nothing. The nurse could have handled it herself, but it was fine she called me. I just could not settle back down. I got up early, showered, and dressed before coming downstairs at 6:30. Undoubtedly, I will hit the wall later today, but other than my slightly bruised knee, I am getting a lot done.

Of course, at 8:30AM the afternoon nurse called to cancel.

Ironically, her knee hurts.