Morphine Redux.

Itchy. Scratchy. No, that's not a pair of cartoon characters - well yes it is, but not here - it's my dad as he wakes up this morning.

I offer some of the soothing hospital lotion that got sent home with him. Ah ha, there's a little rash where he's pointing. He jumps when I touch him to smooth the lotion on the spot. It's highly tender.

I tend to the morning routine, and get interrupted by another complaint about being itchy. OK, this time I go dig up the Sarna lotion, an old standby for itching that he's used since after he had shingles.

I fix him breakfast, set up his meds, take a shower, get dressed and am almost ready to go out the door...

He's itchy again. This time I dig out the anti-itch creme in the tube. Both tubes. Not a lot left, but there's some there. I clue in Rich, and leave for work.

Early afternoon I get a phone call. The nurse has been going over all his meds with Rich. Changes need to be made. Most are as simple as when and in what combination something is given. One is called in to the doctor for approval to double the dosage. And the morphine has been poured down the sink.

Huh?

Remember that bracelet in the hospital that stated No Known Allergies? Well, now that would be wrong. He's allergic to morphine. It manifests as an extremely itchy rash. So, down the drain.

I have mental images of very happy rats in the local sewer system, though I know of no actual beasties therein. Or perhaps there are spiders down there that survive winters underground, feasting on other bugs that inhabit sewers for food and warmth. What kind of weird webs would a spider spin under the influence of morphine?

He'd gotten his last dose this morning, and luckily it was only a half dose. We were already playing around with reduced dosages because the anticipated constipation proved not to be a myth. He got no morphine the previous evening, to enable peristalsis to return. It was an extremely successful gambit. I know because around 4 AM I thought I needed to make a potty stop. It was in use. For quite a while. Another of those mornings where I can't quite get back to sleep. Two hours sleep-deprived.

But since withholding worked, I returned him to a half-dose this morning. Oops! Who knew?

Since coming home tonight, he's been dosed with Lanacane at least 8 times. One spot gets treated, and another makes its presence known. The rash is spreading even now. Every five minutes he calls out for some place to get treated. He's gotten his sleeping pill, plus the old one that also is used as an anti-allergy med. We added a second ibuprofin to help the pain, since it sometimes helps me with an itch too. Blankets have been removed, and added. A pillow has been placed between him and the chair.

I'm trying to finish this and get to bed. Maybe he can fall asleep before the next something drives him nuts.

I'm very well aware of the baby monitor in my room.

Addendum: It took until after midnight for him to get to sleep. Thus for me too. When the alarm went off at 6, he'd been so quiet that I had to check to see that he was still breathing. He was. The rash has been treated again - it's still spreading - and Paul has orders, since he's home today, to go buy more Lanacane.