Going Old School in 2018 – a look back

Exactly a year ago today, Rich and I woke up in Manhattan for a weekend in the city despite a bomb cyclone or a polar vortex or an arctic air mass… whatever the weather folks decided it was… that just dropped the temperatures to the negative numbers along with some snow. Our oldest suggested we put off whatever we were leaving our Long Island home for. We explained that it wasn’t possible. We were there for medical reasons and to further delay was problematic.

Rich’s neuropathy pain was hitting a high. We’d delayed his ketamine treatments that had been so successful. Not that we wanted to. It just turned out that during the six months since the last infusions, the center affiliated with the hospital closed. Ultimately we signed up with a doctor in a downtown office building. January 6th, 2018 we woke up near the small tip of New York City in the depths of a bomb cyclone. Our glasses wouldn’t defog, our breathing needed protection or our lungs hurt. The sky was bright with sunshine but none of this was of any interest; we’d be spending the day in this office building. A short walk from our hotel around the corner was all we needed.

As we’ve reported so many times, Rich’s various treatments since his diagnosis have been state of the art. We spent a month in our little room down the hall within a hall as he received his own stem cells back as a transplant. That room had automatic everything including perforated walls that kept germs in the hallway and away from our patient. The process of the stem cell transplant itself was cutting edge. Although many of the chemo drugs have had a history going back into the early parts of the last century, the new uses were groundbreaking in cancer treatment.

The use of ketamine, a veterinary anesthetic, for chronic pain has always been one of those infusions that were carefully measured and administered in controlled conditions. Drip by drip, the dose was digitally monitored and counted. The hospital had Rich in a quiet room, similar to an outpatient surgical room which made sense for using an anesthetic.

When going to the hospital or its outlying center for pain management, we had a decent insurance coverage for these treatments. Now, the only places we could find offering ketamine treatment for pain were at locations that did not take insurance. It didn’t take long to decide that, whatever the cost, it was worth it. The freedom from the spiking, burning, shooting pain was worth whatever the price.

Unlike the hospital, this ketamine center was low key. And low-tech. The doctor ran an EKG and saw Rich’s left bundle branch blockage. As an anesthetist, he had the experience needed. Rich was hooked up to an IV. The bag was hung, not from a metered dosing machine but to a nail on the wall. The doctor looked at his watch and glanced at the rate of the infusion, drip by drip. He tweaked the flow until he was satisfied. I was invited to stay in the room with Rich if I wanted… a first for ketamine. Rich was given the same relaxant drugs prior to the start of the ketamine itself as he received at the hospital center.

The doctor and nurse discussed his dosing, his vitals and what they expected. Instead of five doses once a week at 200 units each, we were scheduled for two consecutive days of 400 to 450 units. We’d read that consecutive doses were more successful long term so we were excited to see if that were true.

As usual, the meds began to take effect and Rich began to doze off. The doctor and nurse watched him and his vitals for a while longer. The light in the room was turned off. I read or listened to music through earbuds while he slept. The nurse and doctor left the room, telling me that it would be about six hours and that I was welcome to stay or come and go as I pleased.

Every hour, the doctor would come in, check vitals, check rate of flow and leave pleased. But instead of just checking the monitors, he would go up to Rich and gently place his hand on Rich’s forearm. Before walking away, he’d give Rich’s arm a slight rub and a pat. Satisfied.

I was so impressed by the care. The doctor didn’t rely on the monitors that Rich was hooked up to. He watched the drip of the IV and matched it against the second hand of his watch. He checked his pulse with fingers on Rich’s wrist.

When the infusion was done, the doctor slowly woke Rich up. Every half hour coming in and talking to him to assess his readiness for discharge. With the higher dose infusion, our patient was insisting he was well enough to leave although standing upright was near to impossible.

After a few hours recovering, we made our way to our hotel around the corner, now using a supplied wheelchair through the snow, ice and slush. Room service was welcome as we prepared for the same the following day.

The second dose was slightly more than the previous day. Again the personal touch and the nail on the wall came into play. Again, the gentle waking. Although with this higher dose, Rich took longer to break free of the ketamine. “ACTUATOR!”

Huh?

With a sloppy grin, Rich repeated “ACTUATOR!”

He babbled on and then dozed off again.

Next awakening he began on another tangent… “Literature!”

???

“Literature! Take it… they don’t care… they don’t care!”

There is no literature in this room but that doesn’t stop our patient. His voice is gravely and comical. He grins wide goofy grins, looking very self-satisfied. This second day, it takes just a little longer for him to come ’round as we wait for the car service to take us back home. The mass transit we took in on Friday evening will not do for the return to Long Island. Our patient is too unsteady.

Now when Rich had the weekly ketamine infusions, that five week period was a lost period of time. By the time Rich started to recover from the wonkiness, it was time for another treatment. With this new protocol, we found that the recovery time is just a few days. And, now, in the year 2019, a full three hundred and sixty-five days later, there has been no need for another treatment. Today we rejoice this special anniversary has come.

Sometimes, old school is the way to go.