Thursday, December 22, 2011
Chemo Treatment #6 - ALMOST
Monday, December 19 should have been my sixth chemo treatment - but my white blood cell count was low - the GRA # was 1.0 which as Dr. H explained it is "right on the fence". My temp was 99 when they checked it. So he decided that he was not going to do the infusion - to which I replied, good, then I should feel good for Christmas. Tuesday I thought I was feeling pretty good - and was keeping an eye on my temp. About halfway through the morning on Wednesday I was freezing, so I put my coat on. When I came home for lunch my temp was 100.6 - couldn't even navigate eating my yogurt - just laid on the couch covered up with a blanket! So after lunch I called out to Dr. H's office and told them what was going on - they wanted me to come out so they could do bloodwork and check out my temp. I told them I didn't know that I could even get myself out there - so I called church and Dixie took me out to the office. My temp was 102 when I got there, and Kim asked me if I knew what that meant. Of course I didn't - but her answer was you get to go to the ER. So Dixie drove me to the ER and I had called Carrie while still in Dr. H's office to see if she was available to come meet me - and she did. So when we got to the ER they did a chest x-ray and also took a urine specimen - the ER Dr. came in and wanted to know if I wanted the good news - I told him that's all I wanted was the good news. Well the urine specimen showed that I had a urinary tract infection. That was good news, because if nothing had shown up from either test, then they would have debated on whether to admit me or not. So I got antibiotic medicine via an iv (my port had already been accessed, so they didn't have to poke me, thank goodness) that took an hour and a half. When that was done, they sent me home with a prescription of the same medicine that I will take in pill form for ten days. Got to see my friend Amy when they took me for the chest x-ray and then she checked in on us before she left for the day - Thanks Amy. Carrie had gone back to work to make up for some of the time she'd taken off in the afternoon - and Justin came and sat with me for awhile. Jeff called Wednesday night to see how I was feeling - and I got to talk to Brant, who I know told me Hi and nite nite - the rest of it I'm not so sure about. Then Brody got on the phone and was telling me about the Christmas present that he'd gotten from his day care lady - a nerf gun! Then he says "you know what Grandma" and I said what, and he said "I missed you" I told him I missed him too - then before we hung up he tells me "I'll see you tomorrow" and I just said Ok. So needless to say I didn't go to work this morning - I was however feeling a night and day difference to what I had felt like on Wednesday. In the ER I was calling church to make sure things were going ok with the newsletter that was mailed today, and also calling Peggy (one of my office angels to tell her that she would have to supervise things this morning). So thanks once again to Shirley, Nancy, Dixie and Peggy for getting things all finished up for me. Thanks to Marv & Peggy for taking it to the Post Office too. As you can tell, I have some wonderful people that are picking up a whole lot for me when I'm not feeling well! I had the card and the Christmas stocking that we were going to put Pastor Jon's present from the staff in - so Nancy had to come and pick that up this morning, so that they could give it to him. We had set up an appt w/ Dr. S, so Carrie took me there this afternoon - and then found out that Dr. S was on call yesterday so he knew I'd been in the ER. The office will be closed on Friday and Monday - so I'll have a long weeked to catch back up. John has done most of the Christmas shopping, and we have just a few things to finish up, so maybe I can help with that tomorrow. And I'm guessing there won't be any Christmas cards sent out - at least not by Christmas! Oh maybe I can send out a valentine letter in February - cos work in January is always crazy with all of the end of the year stuff to do, not to mention W-2's, etc. May you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Chemo treatment #5
So I did chemo treatment #5 on Monday, December 5 - and wore the pump through Wednesday. It was a cold week - so the sensitivity to cold was especially bad that week and lasted a lot longer this time than it had in the past. Then I got another side effect too - my throat felt like I had swollen tonsils - but I haven't had any tonsils since the 7th grade. I did not have a sore throat, but different things I ate I would have a hard time swallowing. So I talked to Kim at Dr. H's and they suggested gargling with salt water - that seemed to take care of it. If it hadn't, then they would have put me on an antibiotic.
We got a new pastor (Pastor Jon) in September and his family stayed in Arizona until their house sold. So his installation worship service was on Sunday, December 4 in the afternoon. I decided to make that my maiden voyage to see if I could sit through church - of course I also sat way to the back just in case I needed to rush to the bathroom. It went pretty well, but by the time it was over I was pretty tired of sitting (some chairs are worse than others I have found) and maybe I'll have to carry a pillow with me! I didn't gain my strength back at the end of the first week or the beginning of the second week like I had in the past. The GOTRA Fall Meeting was held on Sunday, December 11 - and I probably overdid that afternoon! Thanks to my friend Nancy for helping me keep track of paperwork etc. Luckily I did feel real good on Friday, December 16 because we had planned to go to Brody's preschool Christmas program - which was GREAT by the way. Of course he was the cutest kid there and he really got into the singing and the actions to go with all the songs. He was in the middle in the front row, so we could get a pretty good angle for some pics. Unfortunately I forgot to take the video camera. After the program they had tables set up to make gingerbread houses - graham crackers put onto a small milk carton, along with frosting and things to "decorate" with, like m&m's, licorice, mint pillows, gumdrops, etc. So Brody, Jill and I decorated the gingerbread house and then he got to take it home with him. From there, we went to the Westroads to pick up a Christmas present. And also since we were that close, I delivered an angel ornament to my "angel" Nickole, Dr. B's medical assistant. From there we went to visit my uncle & aunt who we don't get down to see as often as we should. Had a great visit! My uncle has also had some health problems this year - had a defibulator put in, and also bladder cancer - so he has been in and out of Methodist Hospital this year too and also Dr's offices. We have tried to be a support group for each other. We picked supper up on the way home as I was pretty tired by that time. On Saturday morning I went and picked up our SHARE box (this is a great program - ask me about it if you have any questions). Then that evening we had our Staff Christmas Party. I had taken my relish tray to church on Friday so that Pastor Jon could take it home with him, so they could put it out before we got there. John had to work that day, so he was going to come home, change clothes and then we would head out. Well that plan got changed when he went to go into town for lunch and the pickup wouldn't start - so I ended up going to Valmont to pick him up - had taken clothes for him to change into and then we went directly out to the party. It was a lot of fun! Great food (everybody brings something), some carol singing, and then white elephant gifts. On Sunday Jeff & Jill brought sandwiches and soup for supper and then we all went out to look at Christmas lights. Brant lasted probably an hour, and it wasn't long after that Brody was getting tired too! It was a GREAT weekend and I'm so thankful that I felt up to participating in everything that went on.
We got a new pastor (Pastor Jon) in September and his family stayed in Arizona until their house sold. So his installation worship service was on Sunday, December 4 in the afternoon. I decided to make that my maiden voyage to see if I could sit through church - of course I also sat way to the back just in case I needed to rush to the bathroom. It went pretty well, but by the time it was over I was pretty tired of sitting (some chairs are worse than others I have found) and maybe I'll have to carry a pillow with me! I didn't gain my strength back at the end of the first week or the beginning of the second week like I had in the past. The GOTRA Fall Meeting was held on Sunday, December 11 - and I probably overdid that afternoon! Thanks to my friend Nancy for helping me keep track of paperwork etc. Luckily I did feel real good on Friday, December 16 because we had planned to go to Brody's preschool Christmas program - which was GREAT by the way. Of course he was the cutest kid there and he really got into the singing and the actions to go with all the songs. He was in the middle in the front row, so we could get a pretty good angle for some pics. Unfortunately I forgot to take the video camera. After the program they had tables set up to make gingerbread houses - graham crackers put onto a small milk carton, along with frosting and things to "decorate" with, like m&m's, licorice, mint pillows, gumdrops, etc. So Brody, Jill and I decorated the gingerbread house and then he got to take it home with him. From there, we went to the Westroads to pick up a Christmas present. And also since we were that close, I delivered an angel ornament to my "angel" Nickole, Dr. B's medical assistant. From there we went to visit my uncle & aunt who we don't get down to see as often as we should. Had a great visit! My uncle has also had some health problems this year - had a defibulator put in, and also bladder cancer - so he has been in and out of Methodist Hospital this year too and also Dr's offices. We have tried to be a support group for each other. We picked supper up on the way home as I was pretty tired by that time. On Saturday morning I went and picked up our SHARE box (this is a great program - ask me about it if you have any questions). Then that evening we had our Staff Christmas Party. I had taken my relish tray to church on Friday so that Pastor Jon could take it home with him, so they could put it out before we got there. John had to work that day, so he was going to come home, change clothes and then we would head out. Well that plan got changed when he went to go into town for lunch and the pickup wouldn't start - so I ended up going to Valmont to pick him up - had taken clothes for him to change into and then we went directly out to the party. It was a lot of fun! Great food (everybody brings something), some carol singing, and then white elephant gifts. On Sunday Jeff & Jill brought sandwiches and soup for supper and then we all went out to look at Christmas lights. Brant lasted probably an hour, and it wasn't long after that Brody was getting tired too! It was a GREAT weekend and I'm so thankful that I felt up to participating in everything that went on.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Chemo Treatment #4
Well, I did chemo treatment #4 on Monday, November 21. It was a little out of sync though, as Dr. H was on vacation this week, and everybody was moved to the morning - plus there were nurse practicioners there to meet with us. So we went in at 9:00 a.m. and they finally hooked me up for the infusion at 10:45 a.m. - so it was 1:30 p.m. before we were on our way home. Picked up some lunch at the drive thru and came home. By that time I was wiped, so I spent the afternoon on the couch, and did some snoozing. I was so out of sync with doing the treatment in the morning that I even forgot to put the Emla cream on - so they had to spray me with the stuff that "freezes" the skin so you don't feel the poke. Wore the pump until Wednesday morning when I went in to get it taken off.
By Wednesday afternoon I was pretty sure that I was plugged up - so I contacted Dr. B's medical assistant and she suggeted that I take some Miralax to help offset it. It was either the chemo causing the constipation OR maybe I had gone a little overboard with putting fiber back into my diet OR it could have been a combination of both. Woke up Thursday morning early having to run to the bathroom - then that slowed down. I took my Miralax - and it started to kick in about 7:00 p.m. that evening - but not in a good way. After having diarrhea for awhile things seemed to calm down. Of course during the time I was in the bathroom sitting on the pot - I also had to grab the garbage can to get sick in. That was not much fun, but it didn't last very long. I was also glad that we weren't getting together for Thanksgiving until Saturday - that gave me a chance to rest up!
We did get together on Saturday for our Thanksgiving - the kids did all the work and I basically just showed up. It was a great low key evening and I am very thankful for the time we get to spend together. Plus I got to have some time with my two favorite little guys too!
Have to go in for bloodwork on Monday, November 28 - the white blood cell count and hemoglobin were down on the 21st, but not enough that they didn't do the treatement. I'll be curious to see what they are this week! Also have to call my friend Nickole, Dr. B's medical assistant - to see what I should continue doing, and what Dr. B suggests.
My appetite slowed down like it normally does after the chemo treatment (back to eating a lot of yogurt) and I have slowed down on the fresh vegetables and high fiber stuff - hopefully that will help.
Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving - this year I feel like I have so many things to be thankful for - and I have learned that we should never take ANYTHING for granted - be thankful for EVERYTHING!
By Wednesday afternoon I was pretty sure that I was plugged up - so I contacted Dr. B's medical assistant and she suggeted that I take some Miralax to help offset it. It was either the chemo causing the constipation OR maybe I had gone a little overboard with putting fiber back into my diet OR it could have been a combination of both. Woke up Thursday morning early having to run to the bathroom - then that slowed down. I took my Miralax - and it started to kick in about 7:00 p.m. that evening - but not in a good way. After having diarrhea for awhile things seemed to calm down. Of course during the time I was in the bathroom sitting on the pot - I also had to grab the garbage can to get sick in. That was not much fun, but it didn't last very long. I was also glad that we weren't getting together for Thanksgiving until Saturday - that gave me a chance to rest up!
We did get together on Saturday for our Thanksgiving - the kids did all the work and I basically just showed up. It was a great low key evening and I am very thankful for the time we get to spend together. Plus I got to have some time with my two favorite little guys too!
Have to go in for bloodwork on Monday, November 28 - the white blood cell count and hemoglobin were down on the 21st, but not enough that they didn't do the treatement. I'll be curious to see what they are this week! Also have to call my friend Nickole, Dr. B's medical assistant - to see what I should continue doing, and what Dr. B suggests.
My appetite slowed down like it normally does after the chemo treatment (back to eating a lot of yogurt) and I have slowed down on the fresh vegetables and high fiber stuff - hopefully that will help.
Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving - this year I feel like I have so many things to be thankful for - and I have learned that we should never take ANYTHING for granted - be thankful for EVERYTHING!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Appt with Dr. B
Had my follow up appointment with Dr. B on Wednesday, November 16 - she felt that I was coming along even better than she had expected. Dr. B told me that I would see her now every three months for 18 months. It's such a pleasure to see her and her staff, that will not be a problem at all! I also turned the corner this week on the bathroom thing!
Have had no more bouts of diarrhea type trips - which is kind of what I had had since I'd been home. Sometimes it would fall in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening or overnight. Also had some what I would call "leakage" type stools - after that I ended up with some diaper rash (now I know why babies cry!) - but got some cream and got rid of it right away. (I feel like some of this was because I had taken some immodium to slow down the process {once on the night we had our pictures taken and once on the day that I did chemo treatment #3} and it did slow it down, but maybe gave me some other side effects too.) BTW - being able to poop is NOT overrated. Listen to someone who's been there - the ileostomy bag makes you kind of lazy, as you can empty it basically at your convenience. When you're running to the bathroom every 10 or 15 minutes it becomes not so much fun. And I feel like I see a light at the end of the tunnel for the "Depends".
I have gone back to work and can last almost a full day. Dr. B told me that I wouldn't regain my strength back entirely as long as I was still doing the chemo treatments. And I have some good days and some bad days - which is to be expected.
I've also gotten used to seeing myself with straight hair - or on the days that I use the curling brush on it, a little bit of curl. Dropped by to see my hair dresser the other day and she is going to trim my hair and also trim the bangs on my wig.
Had a scary experience when they did the blood draw before chemo treatment #3 - the nurse irrigated the port, then drew back and didn't like what she saw, so she kept drawing back but wasn't getting anything (blood is supposed to come back into the syringe). Anyway she asked me to raise my left arm which I did - but still no luck. So she had me get up on the examining table and lay down and then asked me to raise my left arm again - well this time she could get the blood that she needed for the bloodwork they do - to check on white blood cell count, etc. Thought maybe there had been a problem with "placement" on the port - like it might have moved a little or something.
Guess that's about all for now - am looking forward to getting chemo treatment #4 over and done with on November 21 . . . and then I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my family and having a long weekend! Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Have had no more bouts of diarrhea type trips - which is kind of what I had had since I'd been home. Sometimes it would fall in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening or overnight. Also had some what I would call "leakage" type stools - after that I ended up with some diaper rash (now I know why babies cry!) - but got some cream and got rid of it right away. (I feel like some of this was because I had taken some immodium to slow down the process {once on the night we had our pictures taken and once on the day that I did chemo treatment #3} and it did slow it down, but maybe gave me some other side effects too.) BTW - being able to poop is NOT overrated. Listen to someone who's been there - the ileostomy bag makes you kind of lazy, as you can empty it basically at your convenience. When you're running to the bathroom every 10 or 15 minutes it becomes not so much fun. And I feel like I see a light at the end of the tunnel for the "Depends".
I have gone back to work and can last almost a full day. Dr. B told me that I wouldn't regain my strength back entirely as long as I was still doing the chemo treatments. And I have some good days and some bad days - which is to be expected.
I've also gotten used to seeing myself with straight hair - or on the days that I use the curling brush on it, a little bit of curl. Dropped by to see my hair dresser the other day and she is going to trim my hair and also trim the bangs on my wig.
Had a scary experience when they did the blood draw before chemo treatment #3 - the nurse irrigated the port, then drew back and didn't like what she saw, so she kept drawing back but wasn't getting anything (blood is supposed to come back into the syringe). Anyway she asked me to raise my left arm which I did - but still no luck. So she had me get up on the examining table and lay down and then asked me to raise my left arm again - well this time she could get the blood that she needed for the bloodwork they do - to check on white blood cell count, etc. Thought maybe there had been a problem with "placement" on the port - like it might have moved a little or something.
Guess that's about all for now - am looking forward to getting chemo treatment #4 over and done with on November 21 . . . and then I am looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with my family and having a long weekend! Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Chemo Treatment #3
Well I had chemo treatment #3 today! And I have my little buddy (pump) with me until Wednesday.
We'll see how it goes this time. The next treatment will be done on November 21.
As I had said before, we had the 16th Annual GOTRA Banquet on Saturday, November 5. Thanks to Carrie & Justin & John for helping set up on Friday night. I had cooked two pork loins on Thursday and two pork loins on Friday. When Jim & Nancy Mills got to town Saturday, they helped Carrie finish getting things ready. I went out about 5:00 - made it through all of the banqet presentations, and then went home about 9:30, as I could tell I was fading fast. Thanks to John, Carrie & Justin, Jim & Nancy Mills, Carol Stohlmann, Carol Aldrich and Richard & Donna Ferguson for helping put things away and doing the clean-up. It was a great night - we ended the 16th season on a high note - and are ready to start our 17th season in 2012.
We'll see how it goes this time. The next treatment will be done on November 21.
As I had said before, we had the 16th Annual GOTRA Banquet on Saturday, November 5. Thanks to Carrie & Justin & John for helping set up on Friday night. I had cooked two pork loins on Thursday and two pork loins on Friday. When Jim & Nancy Mills got to town Saturday, they helped Carrie finish getting things ready. I went out about 5:00 - made it through all of the banqet presentations, and then went home about 9:30, as I could tell I was fading fast. Thanks to John, Carrie & Justin, Jim & Nancy Mills, Carol Stohlmann, Carol Aldrich and Richard & Donna Ferguson for helping put things away and doing the clean-up. It was a great night - we ended the 16th season on a high note - and are ready to start our 17th season in 2012.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Hello All!
Just wanted to let you all know that things are coming along after the reversal surgery. My body is remembering what it is supposed to be doing, instead of what it did from June 20 to October 10! And 99% of the time it works just fine. That other 1% is usually at night when I am sleeping. It has been a long process to gain back any strength yet though I'm afraid. I've had several bouts with running to the bathroom every 15 minutes - those have not been so fun - and they have moved from the mornings to the afternoons to the evenings to overnight. Running to the bathroom is much easier in the waking hours!
We got not only individual pictures taken last night for our church's pictorial directory, but also got a family pic taken! And I lasted through all of it! I must say the pics of everyone else were GREAT - mine, not so much!
Saturday is the GOTRA Banquet and I'm hoping to last through all of it too. We'll see how that goes.
At this point I am still planning to start back up with the chemo on November 7 - I think things are working well enough that I can sit through the two hours and 15 minutes! Figure the faster we get started back up, the sooner we will get done.
We got not only individual pictures taken last night for our church's pictorial directory, but also got a family pic taken! And I lasted through all of it! I must say the pics of everyone else were GREAT - mine, not so much!
Saturday is the GOTRA Banquet and I'm hoping to last through all of it too. We'll see how that goes.
At this point I am still planning to start back up with the chemo on November 7 - I think things are working well enough that I can sit through the two hours and 15 minutes! Figure the faster we get started back up, the sooner we will get done.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Irony
About the ileostomy bag - I always felt it was a little cruel to have the girl that has a problem with adhesives . . . to wear a bag from her body that was attached to her with ADHESIVES! But with that being said, after we finally got it figured out so that it wouldn't leak (that was a bigger problem!) it was just something that you had to deal with. Now if when I came out of surgery they had told me that I would have to have this the rest of my life I would have sucked it up and said OK, but since I knew it was only supposed to short term, I was anxious to get rid of it! Now onward and upward (another couple of weeks before I can start putting more fiber foods in my diet. Is it bad that I've already started a mental list of some things that I want to have?? . . . like chili (no beans on a low fiber diet), a big salad (can't have a lot of roughage on a low fiber diet), onion rings (breaded things are not good on a low fiber diet).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)