Wednesday August 17th 2022

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 17, 2022

Nice temps -- mid-70's, partly sunny, with lots of those big, tall thunderhead clouds, but no rain as yet.

Hubby's appt went well. The x-ray machine in the doc's office is still not functioning, so tomorrow he has to go get 2 chest x-rays at the Imaging Center. Doc said he might have to have a catheter/drain inserted if the fluid build-up is of a consequential amount.

He wants to get the lung-thing straightened out first, and then the doc will put him on a (?) Librium taper (?). He said it may or may not work. If hubby starts drinking again, they have to start the taper again. Then depending on how he does (or doesn't ) do, he may have to do an inpatient rehab.

The doctor said, "Now, I am not mad at you, but I need you to understand that you ARE killing yourself by continuing to drink. I like you and I would really rather you didn't die from drinking. This is serious." Then they took blood to check on his liver and something else.

After the appt, the first thing hubby did was stop at the ABC store and get a fifth. And he got two small (airplane-size) bottles of vodka to chug right after he got back in the car, because the shakes were starting up. Hubby told me that he HAS had some hallucinations...the other day he saw a songbird sitting on the floor in the doorway of his room; also when he was looking at a 4-ft yardstick leaning in a corner, with a folded towel under the end of it.... it was wavering up and down and sideways. He told me about one other one, but I can't remember right now what it was. (I didn't know about the hallucinations!)

Anyway, that's that about that.

I'll probably come back by here later to check up on y'all----

nursej22, MSN, RN · Aug 17, 2022

NoStars, I am wishing the best for you, but I don’t understand what this Dr. is doing. Yes, the lung issue is important, but so is the possibility of bad outcomes from unsupervised withdrawal. I didn’t even know that Librium was on the market.
Safe travels, Dianah!

Ado, that is a tough situation for your step-son. And we nurses always want to help.
Hi Joe and Tweety !

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Aug 17, 2022

We still give Librium in the hospital for alcohol withdrawal. I gather that it helps with the symptoms. I've seen some people who didn't seem to have much trouble and some for whom the withdrawal symptoms were truly awful.

Our pastor texted me today that choir practice is starting back up tonight and we're going to dinner together first so I'm looking forward to that.

Though Hubs didn't give me his blessing, I did initiate a conversation with an attorney in Indiana about the possibility of emergency guardianship of stepson. I figure Hubs has his hands full with his mom, and I can do this as well as he can. We can't really afford it, but that hasn't stopped us before. ?

nursej22, MSN, RN · Aug 17, 2022

Years ago we gave Librium but it didn't seem to do much. Po valium worked well, because the patients would get sleepy, and when they woke up they are past of lot of the badness. The doses needed were pretty amazing. Just before I stopped working at the hospital, we were giving wee little doses of Ativan every hour, until the patient decompensated enough to go to ICU for an Ativan drip. It was an ineffective protocol, as far as I was concerned.

Chronic use of ETOH blocks GABA, a neuroreceptor, and when you take away the ETOH, the receptors are unblocked and the patients go into withdrawal and possibly seizures. Benzos replace the alcohol until the GABA levels can level out.

So yeah, benzos relieve anxiety, but they are critical to prevent seizures.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 18, 2022

Good evening.

Had a long day. Finished charting at 8:08. 808 is an angel number: "808 is symbolic of finding new love, dealing with change, and having faith."

We use librium and Ativan mostly where I work. Unfortunately it might take the edge off, or keep seizures away but still sometimes the person gets confused and delirious. Drinking is not an option on librium and at home I just can't imagine how uncomfortable it would be. But I do wish you all the best.

No Stars In My Eyes · Aug 18, 2022

"I'm just along for the ride", as my mother used to say, about things she had no control over. I have actually felt all along that this problem needed a more rapid and direct treatment (Get thee to a nunnery? umm--I mean: REHAB!) but I am not the boss of him or his doctor.

So tomorrow he gets the chest xrays, and we'll see about if the pleural effusion has continued and to what degree. Doc told him he really needs to make an effort to decrease his alcohol intake. I am anxious to "get this over with", but DUH, he has been told ^ that ^ already. I remember when he was first dx w/ diabetes, he was pretty gung-ho about following the program, food-wise. But, little at a time, that went by the wayside, and I think a dietician would be appalled by how he 'manages' his blood-sugars. It's only lately that his finger-stick #'s have crept up.

Contemplating going into an in-patient rehab, hubby says "it isn't fair" to ask me to take care of Nannie by myself, but I would LOVE to have him removed from this atmosphere for a few weeks; that MIGHT cut his tensions some. Plus with Nannie sleeping all the time now, it is 'easier' to deal with her. A lot of the tension here is due to, and between, him and his mom, anyway.

Ah, c'est la Vie!

.? So I grit my teef an' smiles.

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Aug 18, 2022

Dinner with the choir was a nice break. We didn't practice much, just looked at the new music and listened to a couple of recordings.

Today had been Hubs' turn to get crazy texts from stepson. I guess it was his maternal grandmother the day before he picked on me. She blocked him.