Rewind a couple of days

I just haven't felt like posting so I will try to go back and play catch up to post most of what has been going on. This may post on 4/6 when I tried to start it but it didn't happen, so I will try it again tonight. When Clay and I went in I was nervous about the access of my ports, but I was blessed to have Nurse Karen and she was wonderful. Not to say there wasn't some pain involved but she made it much easier. She did the cultures on both ports to check for infection (it came back negative) after having bloodwork done I had to have platelets and a unit of blood. It was a long day, Candes came to the hospital and Clay went back home. Monday and Tuesday were the same routine going into the hospital, I started getting really bad pains in my stomach and was so weak, it was the lowest I have felt. Of course I had bottomed out with my WBC so that didn't help matters. They put me on an 5 hour infuser antibiotic, we will do this twice a day just incase there was any infection or bacteria in my stomach. It was good to have Candes here, she had the worse shift this time though. Darcy met us at the hospital on Wednesday so Candes could go back home. On Wednesday we had bloodwork, bandage change, antibiotic hookup and we were done. I was starting to feel a little better by then, I still wasn't much company though. I am feeling better but really pretty weak, my counts are coming up so that makes you feel better. I had a doctor's appointment with Dr. Barlogie, he looked over all my counts, even though my WBC had just started to come up he felt like things were on track. He wants his physicians assistant to see me on Monday just to double check my numbers and discharge me. Darcy trained as a nurse, she got to learn the process of hooking infusers up to my port, on Wednesday night she was up and down alot hooking and unhooking something or another. I had the antibiotic and potassium/magnesium. She did a good job, she was a good nurse. Clay got here Friday morning and Darcy went back home, today was a short day at the infusion center, all was good with my counts, my WBC had jumped up to 3.3 so I was tickled to death , we didn't have to do anything. I didn't have to get a growth factor shot today since my counts were up. (I am done with those) Clay and I stopped to get a sandwich since I could actually be out in public. Clay and I took a walk around the apartment complex, I was pretty tired when we got back, I still need to gain alot of strength.

Rough Day

I thought I wanted pancakes this morning so Clay ran down to the corner McDonalds to bring us breakfast, well 2 or 3 bites I knew that wasn't what I wanted. The syrup was so sweet I just couldn't handle it, so that was the end of my breakfast. Felt a little yucky this morning, we just had a relaxing morning, actually Clay did things around the apartment like laundry and things like that while I relaxed. The wait wasn't too bad in the waiting room today but by the time it was all said and done we were there again till almost 6. My B.P. stayed up again today, so bloodwork, a shot, IV antibiotic was the start, again we wait for the labs to get back, I was low on magnesium and I needed a unit of blood. This meant alot of wait time since they have to order all that and sometimes you think it is being delivered by a courier pigeon. On Thursday I had mentioned that they had accessed my other port to use for a week, I felt like when the nurse dressed it that the dressing was pulled too tight, I don't really know but last night it starting oozing some blood. They checked it today, wanted to take the old dressing off, they were a little concerned with the oozing, they ran a culture on the one port to see if there was any infection. After getting my magnesium and blood they took the needle out of my port to let it rest tonight, They will have to access both ports tomorrow because they wanted to do another culture before I had my antibiotic. The site where my port is still very sore and tender, it has just been about 9 days since I had it put in. I dread tomorrow already for when they have to poke the needle back in.

Please pray that my port will heal and there will be no infection, I am not sure what the process would be if something went wrong with it. Thank you again for your love, prayers and support.

Another Long Day

Clay got here by 10 this morning so Jeremy was able to head back home pretty early, I enjoyed him being here to help this week. Seems like things are always so busy we don't get alot of time to visit. We enjoyed our time together. Clay and I just hung out at the apartment for awhile before time to leave for the infusion center. They were really busy, we waited in the waiting room along time before getting called back. It was pretty much the usual, bloodwork, IV antibiotic, growth factor shot. At least my blood pressure stayed up today, I didn't have to get fluids. We had to wait for the labs to come back to see if I needed anything, if you don't wait it will never fail and they will call you back in after you get home, that's no fun. My white count is coming down but has a ways to go yet before I bottom out, but I needed platelets today, they were at 15 and they need to be at least 20. So this is what took alot of time, they had to match and order my platelets, it was another tiring day, again we were there about 5 hours. When Clay and I left there we stopped to get some dinner, he hadn't really had anything to eat since about 7 this morning, he was a little on the hungry side.

Blood Pressure

Another restless night last night, I don't know what the problem is I usually don't have any problem sleeping while I am down here. Part of it was my stomach, just the yuck feeling not knowing if I would have to get up and run to the bathroom, just a panic. The stomach stuff is the worse, I will be so glad when it leaves me, none too soon. This morning was pretty bad as well and to add to it I got so weak I could hardly walk straight, I knew something was off. It was my blood pressure, what little there was. It was a total of 51/37 so of course that means fluids, fluids, fluids. They gave me a liter of fluid and that brought it up a little but not near enough, so another liter of fluid I received. It was a little higher after two liters of fluid they let me go, my counts were ok, I am still doing IV antibiotics since I had bronchitis before I came down, got my growth factor shot and blood work. It was a very long day, Jeremy and I were there from 1-6 today, it was a very tiring day. The fluid helped my energy level, still a little weak but not like this morning.

Long Time No Post

There's one thing about doing a blog, there is never a guarantee that you won't loose what you have typed, that's how I will start this blog. While Kara was here with me a few days ago I did a pretty long post about my time down here this time, I do it all the time so I know to save it a few times along the way but somehow it disappeared, there were two sentences only on the post. Needless to say I was very upset, just to have to go back and try to remember at least part of the information you had written about. Oh well, that's the way it goes, I will try again to cover most of what has been going on, so bare with me.

Tuesday, March 23rd Candes and I headed toward Little Rock at 7am, I had tests scheduled for most of the day. First stop was picking up my schedule/packet then on to have blood work, I met with a couple of nurses to talk about progress and medications. Then it was on to the dreaded bone marrow biopsy, after that we sat outside on a bench for quite awhile waiting for time to go to the MRI, it was such a beautiful day. Little Rock is just a little ahead of NWA with the blooming of flowers and trees, so it was just nice to set and look at the flowers, all around UAMS they have the most gorgeous tulips and various flowers, so since I missed the early Spring blooms in Fayetteville I was able to enjoy the beauty here. On Wednesday all I had was another nurse appointment so after that we or I should say Candes (I wasn't able to do much of anything) finished unloading the car, unpacking, we made a Walmart run to get the food and supplies that we needed for a little while. Thursday I had an appointment with Dr. Barlogie to see what the plan was as far as moving forward and hear the results of my tests. All the testing came back free and clear, still in remission so we were ready to move forward with the last round of chemo. I was scheduled to have my port put in that afternoon, we went with another type of port this time, it is a port that is surgically placed under the skin. This port won't have to be taken out when I go back home, it actually can be left in 15-20 years if needed. It was kinda a painful undertaking but it's done, it was really sore for two or three days but it has gotten better now. Clay came down on Friday and Candes went back home, On Friday I was hooked up to the 4 day 24 hour a day chemo bag to carry with me everywhere I went. Things went pretty well with the bag, Clay and I had a good weekend, even though I carried the 12 pound bag around I was feeling ok. We went out to eat a couple of times while I was feeling ok. Kara came down on Sunday to stay a few days and Clay headed back home to get ready for his work week. After our trip to the infusion center we headed back to the apartment before going to get a bite to eat. Monday was pretty much the same, that night we stayed in and had chicken alfredo and some wonderful bread, this was sent by a dear friend Sharon. Thank you Sharon, it was great!!! On Tuesday Jeremy came down to take a shift and Kara went back home, I enjoyed the time we had together. Jeremy and I headed to the infusion center pretty soon after he got here, I at least got the bag off today, it always feels good to walk away without that weight on your shoulders. I was already low on potassium so I had to get an infuser baby bottle to wear home. We came back to the apartment and both took a nap, I guess neither one of us knew we were so tired. Later we ran into US Pizza for a bite to eat, I started feeling a little yucky while we were there so it really didn't taste good to me and I usually really like it. Jeremy enjoyed it, he had never been to US Pizza before. About 9pm he unhooked my bottle, so I was free for the night, I didn't sleep real good, I was hot then cold, I also had some crazy dreams in which I don't usually do. I have been taking the blood thinner shots for several days in the stomach. (always fun) Today I started with the growth factor shots, this will effect my white blood count, these shots are given in my arm and they sting like a bee and keep on stinging for quite a while. All my counts were ok so I didn't have to have anything today, they actually took the needle out of my lower port so I came out of there today with only a bandaid covering my port. I didn't mention that it was a double port so they will access my upper port tomorrow and use it for a week, they will just switch back and forth.

Please continue to pray that this last round would go as smooth as possible and I will not have alot of issues as I move forward to the end. Thank you for your love and support.

Birthday and about that time again

I am still trying to get my body and mind ready to head back to Little Rock for my last big chemo treatment. I felt like I was about over the crud that I have had, but I'm really not sure. I think once you get it you can't get rid of it, I have been a little stuffy, ears still feel like they might have fluid or infection and a little cough, not anything like the cough I had when this stuff first started.
Hopefully it will all pass soon.

Well I had a wonderful birthday, my mom, sister and I had lunch at Olive Garden. It was really good, we just had the soup, salad and bread sticks, that way you can eat as little or as much as you want. Since I am not eating a whole lot these days that works great. They had picked me up some new clothes since pretty much all the clothes I have no longer fit. We keep switching sizes as I keep losing weight. It is not a good way to loose weight believe me. I got a sweater jacket from my sister in law, clothes from my girls so I am fixed up for a while now. We had dinner here at home and all the kids were here except Andrew, he had to work that night. We enjoyed Jonah, he entertained all of us, we had petitfores for desert and Jonah sure enjoyed a petitfore, he enjoyed it so much that he had to take a bath before he went home. It was just a great day all the way around.

I need to think about getting packed and gathering up the things I need to take back to Little Rock, Candes and I will leave early Tuesday, March 23rd. I have a busy day on Tuesday and then not much going on Wednesday, I will see the doctor on Thursday. As far as packing, I pretty much just stay packed, the things I take down are sometimes extras so I just keep things boxed up and we move it back and forth. I won't know what to do when I get back and can unpack for good.

Feeling Better

I am finally beginning to feel better. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, it seems like when I am back home I am either sick, not feeling well or just loose interest in my blog. In my last post I mentioned the crud that I had, seems like each day something else started. It started with bronchitis then a sinus infection, bad cough and runny nose. I don't know how many boxes of Puffs I went through. Then the second week I developed an ear infection, they tried 3 different antibiotic then I lost my voice for probably 4 days. I think I am on the mends with it now, it is truly nasty stuff, I know alot of people have had it and once you get it you keep it for a while, it doesn't want to go away.

As far as getting over my last treatment, I think I am also getting there. I am still tired and weak but it is so much better than it was. Seems like there is always something that hits you after you get home, you feel pretty good the first 3 or 4 days you are home and then bam there are issues. I have this week and next week to be home and get stronger before I go back. I will go back on the 23rd, I will spend my birthday at home on the 16th, I will miss Easter at home, I will be in Little Rock (that stinks) I will miss Jonah's second Easter. This will be my last treatment in Little Rock, I will go back and forth for tests and check ups but the rest of my treatments I will do here at Highland Oncology. I will take a treatment once a month for three years, I so look forward to the end, we are so much closer now.