Saturday, July 6, 2013

Home Hydration {the lifesaver}.....



One of the things that has been most beneficial for us is hydration at home. 
When dealing with stomach cancer there's so much to deal with from nausea, vomitting to diahrrea, the last thing you want to worry about is dehydration.
Dehydration can lead to so many different things.. weakness, fatigue, constipation even death. So when meeting with our palliative team I brought up giving her hydration at home which was completely welcomed as a great idea.  They sent me a home health nurse within a day or two who walked me through exactly what to do one time only and it was fairly easy to learn. The same technique could be used whether she had a port or picc line.
So since January I've given her 1-2 liters of fluid a day, which has helped with fatigue especially during her chemo weeks. Needless to say no more visits to the ER in the middle of the night for dehydration and one less thing for her to worry about. It also helped with having more regular bowel movements. Yay for being proactive:-)

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