Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Hiccup King is Still Hiccupping

Poor Ed, his hiccups just keep on keepin' on. We've tried most of the magical methods, including the sugar on the tongue. The first time we tried the sugar, it worked.......except that the hiccups returned in about 20 minutes. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to when they start or stop or how long they last. He might go a couple of hours and we'll breath a sign of relief, only to have them start up again. Naturally, he isn't getting a lot of sleep or he only gets small periods of sleep.

This afternoon, he laid down on the couch. What happened isn't funny, but I had to laugh quietly inside....within a few minutes I was pleased to hear a gentle snore.............followed by a hiccup - in his sleep! (His hiccups are 6 seconds apart.) Then, it was snore...hiccup...snore...hiccup, then.......snore/hiccup together! That was one strange sound! He woke up shortly thereafter.

We've talked to several other people who said they've had the hiccups for a couple of days. It doesn't seem to be an emergency and Ed still doesn't want to call the doctor. However, not getting sleep is going to catch up with him. He's already been reading online and the hiccups are not listed as a possible reaction to chemo.

He's having medicinal ice cream now and just came out with a burp/hiccup combo! We both laughed at that one! Let's hope he ice cream does its job.

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