Catching Up!
I have to do a bunch to catch the blog up. I am trying to use this as a journal so I can print it into a book later. I have done all my updates via the Support Page on Facebook. :/
Chemo 2
Wednesday August 10thIt definitely went quicker this time because I didn't have a ton of testing to do before hand. Erin got me to the hospital and as soon as we hit the wing it reeked of urine. Aghhh! I don't do well with smells. Ew! Even the nurses that take us up apologize about the smell. As someone who has worked in the flooring industry maybe they should try cleaning the bathroom grout and having it sealed! YUCK!!!!!
I can't say that my hospital stays are bad in any sort of way except for the stench when I get there. I must eventually become immune to it because I can't smell it after a while. Until I get home and everything in my suitcase smells like hospital.
Hospital food isn't too bad either except just thinking about it makes me nauseous. {Just writing this makes me nauseous} The first time I was in the hospital and I had to order food I was already nauseous from a migraine. I think that triggered a reaction in my brain that food and hospital equals puke. The hospital cafeteria always calls me because it must flag in their system what rooms haven't ordered anything. I just can't bring myself to do it, just looking at the menu causes problems. Let's stop talking about that shall we.
Thursday August 11th
MOVING DAY. While I am at the hospital Erin, Eric, Heather, Debbie, Brad, Devin, Beth, Brian and Natalie get me all moved out of my apartment. So grateful to them for being willing to do that. I personally hate moving. I have helped pack and move many others in my lifetime so I was really feeling bad that I wasn't there to do my OWN move! They are all on TEAM AWESOME! They were able to pack it all up and get it into storage in one day. Amazing! Erin spent several days earlier in the week pre cleaning and getting things sorted. I came up to the apartment to grab a few things and it was the cleanest it had been in a LOOOOONG time! Thank you!
Friday August 12th
Chemo is done and I get to go home today. Erin is also going home. :( Natalie and Bryan pick me up at the hospital and and then we dropped Erin off at the Airport. It was so much fun spending time with Erin this past week. It is not very often I get to see her, but it is even more rare to get to spend one on one time, for as long as we did, with any of my siblings. Good times!
During the time that I am home I go into Logan Regional for blood labs. I end up with a platelet transfusion and a blood transfusion (2 units).
Friday August 19th
Back to the HOPE LODGE! Ken takes me to the Lodge and Debbie is going to met up with us after their family spends the day at Lagoon. I have a Clinic appointment with Peter. I always meet with a PA first and then they tell the Dr the low down and then the Dr comes in and just goes over everything.
So since there are a million PA's and Dr's on my medical team I am almost always seeing new people. I THOUGHT Peter was "new people". I said, "oh...nice to meet you. I always like meeting new members of the team"! He just looks at me like I am crazy. He tells me we've already met. I said, "you must be thinking of someone else, cause I've never seen you in my life". Okay I didn't say it like that. But I didn't recognize him and he was adamant that we had met. I just left it with...."was I on drugs"? Cause really I could have been on drugs. I was having test and surgery for my port during the first round of chemo. I'm not sure who I met. I HAD NEVER SEEN HIM! But whatever we will move on. He questioned me like usual and then I met with the Dr later. Then Ken and I went to the Lodge to get checked in.
This was a tricky check in. I think I win a prize for having the most caregivers. Most people are married and bring their spouse. Or since they are from far away, whomever the bring with them stays with them. I however, constantly come and go from the place and I am lucky to get to hang out with whomever has the time to spend with me.
They are pretty anal about knowing who is in the building at any given time so the caregivers have to sign a form. There is only three signature lines on the form for the caregiver. They know people will have a few during there stay. We have already started signing beyond the given lines. They said we will just have to start a new page soon! HA, HA!
Ken is with me through dinner and then Debbie gets there. We get her oriented and then Ken leaves.
I get to spend the weekend with Debbie! YAY!!! Once again it is rare to spend one on one time with my siblings. It was just as rare to spend time with my Sister in Law Heather. As adults we just don't often have the opportunity to not be surrounded by kids and a list of things to do for several days straight. :-)
We got to do our chit chat thing, watch the olympics, and read our books. We also watched a lot of cooking shows. Chopped Junior....good times! Don't forget ADULT NAPS! The great thing about being my caregiver at the Hope Lodge is Adult Naps! Yay!
It was sad that Debbie had to be there over the weekend. All my labs and clinics were at 8:00 am since they are only open a few hours on the weekend. It was sooooo early! We really needed those Adult Naps. I ended up getting a unit of blood on Sat. The nurse on Sunday just told me to come on Monday for the 2nd unit. Other wise we just got to chillax and spend time together. Good Times!
Monday August 22
Today I get me that 2nd unit of blood today. Debbie gets me to the hospital and then needs to get home. They are celebrating Kayla's Birthday! Ken is coming up to spend the rest of the time in the lodge with me. So he went to get checked in while I was getting my blood and Debbie went home.
Back to Peter.
As I am sitting in my infusion chair Tony Downstairs {because there is a Tony Upstairs to} is telling his patient that he is going upstairs to help with a Bone Marrow Biopsy. This triggers my memory that while I was getting my BMB they were having trouble with my bones being hard to get through. So the nurse said, "go get Peter, he is downstairs".
At that point I hadn't got the feel for how things worked. The Clinic and the 8th floor wing are congruous. They do rounds in both areas. Peter from downstairs is the Peter who is the PA who is insistent that we had met. No Peter we have not. Meeting means we have had eye contact. I was face down on a bed being tortured. I remember saying hi to him when he came in. Told him thank you for coming to help torture me. Then when he left I said, "BYE Peter thanks for hurting me"!
I just thought it was a nurse from downstairs that I hadn't met. I thought he was a tall blond because as soon as they said Peter I thought of Peter Conder who is tall and blond. Peter PA is in fact shorter and brunette.
So I HAVE in fact "met" him, just not face to face. It was face to backside in this case. Now he thinks I'm an idiot. "Was I on drugs?" Why didn't he just say he was there for my Bone Marrow Biopsy! LOL!
Monday August 13 - Tuesday August 30
We actually didn't have to stay at the lodge past Wednesday afternoon. My levels went up so we got to go home. It is a good thing because Ken, who had a cough due to what he though was allergies, actually ended up with pneumonia! So he was having trouble sleeping anyways. Good time to go.
I also got to be home on the first day of school. Aunt Natalie got Abby into school with Luke and Jacob. Her teacher even came by to visit with her before school started. I thought that was pretty amazing! She was also Sydney's teacher in 4th grade. Anywho....I missed the send off for the first day of school, but we were there after school. Thanks Aunt Natalie for getting the back to school pictures!
Jacob and Abby Grade 3 and 4 {No Luke because he was sick}
First Day of Fourth Grade!
Came home and found out that Luke was also sick. He missed the first week of school. Poor guy! A few days later when he wasn't getting better he was seen and found to ALSO have pneumonia! So I just spent a lot of time downstairs. Luke was quarantined to Mom and Dad's room and Grandpa had to wear a mask until his antibiotics kicked in. Good thing I am on anti-virals and anti-bacterial meds. We have all survived. Except Grandpa he is now in a serious insomnia phase. Being sick has messed up his sleeping patterns. That is no fun!
On to round 3 of Chemo!
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