A hospital stay.....

So...you ask yourself..what has she been up to? You probably don't..but I'm going to tell you anyways.

After the second Taxotere treatment, I was tired and in pain like the first one. I recovered and thought all was well. Then last Sunday, April 19th, after getting out of the shower, I looked in the mirror and saw that the area between my port and where they went into my neck was all red and swollen and painful to the touch. It was also much hotter than the rest of my skin. I took my temp and no fever. I've posted a picture of it below.

The picture came in quite handy to show the doctors and nurses what it looked like originally so they could tell if it was getting better. The bump at the bottom is the actual port where they stick the needle in for my chemo treatments.

I called the cancer center on Monday and was told to come into the emergency room. They took blood from the port and my arm and ran cultures. They then checked me INTO THE HOSPITAL. I was not expecting that. I figured a day in the ER with an iv would be the end of it. They had to wait a few days to see if the cultures showed an infection in my blood. I was in the hospital from Monday until Friday (last) night. They poked me for blood sugar checks, taking blood and putting in the iv antibiotics. They did this all night and all day long. You really don't get to rest in a hospital.

They also gave me bags of magnesium since that was low. At the end, I was running out of veins so the IV team had to come in each time they wanted blood or to reset the IV in a new place. It blew out twice from the drug being so harsh.

On the bright side, the staff was really nice and helpful and constantly came in and asked if I needed anything. They also had room service. Instead of eating at set times, they were open from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. and they had specific menus from which you could pick. I was on the Carbohydrate Counting menu because of my diabetes. The food was very good. I had Lemon sage grilled chicken, meatloaf, hamburger, hotdog, grilled chicken caesar salad and all kinds of different sides to choose from. My favorite was the squash medley.

I felt perfectly fine and did not feel ill at all and was able to walk around if I chose when I wasn't hooked up to the i.v. There was a courtyard garden right outside my window which has a turtle pond in it. I didn't have a chance to check it out but will on my next chemo. By Friday, they were certain that the infection was not in the bloodstream and was just in the skin. I could go home with the promise that I would continue to give myself the iv antiobiotics for the next six days. I then have to push a small amount of drugs into the port for another 8 days after that.

At first I didn't think I could do it myself because my first thought was having to put a needle into my port. Then I realized, the needle is already there and taped down, all I have to do is screw two plastic tubes together and let the drugs in. A piece of cake! I have a home care nurse who came by this morning to show me the process. First I draw 5 ccs of blood from my port. Then I flush with saline solution. Then I attach the syringe (huge) with the antibiotic. The syringe is in this "Freedom Pump" that takes 90 minutes to dispense. Then I unhook, flush with saline and then a small amount of the antibiotic goes in to stay in the port until the next treatment. I do this every 12 hours (2x a day). It's a little involved but totally painless and much better than being in the hospital or a nursing facility.

The home care nurse will come in on Monday to draw blood before my next treatment. They will also show me how to change the tubing and they will take the needle out and put a new one in. They'll come by once a week (probably only one time more) before this is all over.

My next chemo was suppposed to have been April 27th but I can't have it until the antibiotics are complete. So I'm being pushed back two weeks until May 11th. My surgical oncologist, Dr. Z., stopped by on Friday and we're thinking that the surgery will now have to be done later in July. If so, this means I can go to Vegas and not have to worry about having just had the surgery and not feeling well. That's a good thing.

Last night, sleeping in my own bed and not getting woken up every hour by either staff or my roommate, was heavenly. I certainly do appreciate my home.

Change of subject:
Beau has been enjoying the beautiful weather. He loves to swim. He is a true water dog.



I want to thank everyone for the kind thoughts and prayers. It truly is appreciated even if I don't have a chance to respond to each one individually.

Now I'm headed outside to enjoy the glorious weather.

Ultrasound

I had the ultrasound this morning but they really couldn't see if it had shrunk. The radiologist thought that the best way to tell in my case would be another MRI. Guess I'll be making another trip up to Kittaning if my surgeon decides he needs one.

My blood sugar is high again but that's because of the steroids. It should come down much more quickly now that I'm using insulin. It wasn't as high as it was last time which is a good sign.

I made it to work around 1:00 p.m. and worked until 6. I was pretty tired but not exhausted like I had been in the past. I'll be going to bed pretty soon, I think.

Let's hope the pain stays away another day. It didn't start last time until Wednesday night.

Good night all.

Chemo #6 and other stuff

Today was chemo #6 and the second of the Taxotere. We were about 10 minutes late getting to the hospital because we weren't used to having to be there so early and dealing with rush hour traffic. It ended up not mattering because the doctor didn't get in until 45 minutes later.

The visit went well and he seemed pleased with the fact that I was dealing with my blood sugar and working on bringing it down. He felt that the tumor was still shrinking and he couldn't feel any of my lymph nodes at all.

MFS and MFD ended up coming to see me around 10:30. MFS was in town because a neighbor of ours from when we lived on Vance Avenue had passed away and he wanted to go to the visitation. He didn't have to be back at school until later in the day. He had never made the trip with me and figured this would be a good time. He picked up MFD and they came in together.

The treatment went well; no ill effects from the Taxotere. However, like the last time, I had great difficulties in getting to sleep the night before because of the steroids I had to take to prepare myself. This time I tried sleeping until 2:30 a.m. when I decided that I was so hungry (steroids) I was considering putting on shoes and a coat over my nightgown and going to get a burger somewhere. I went downstairs and made myself a turkey sandwich instead. I ended up reading until 4:30 a.m. when I decided to try to go back to bed. I did sleep a little and the alarm went off way too early--6:15 a.m. It's now 10:12 p.m. and I'm still not sure I can sleep.

I finished up around 12:15 p.m. and the four of us went to Fuddruckers for lunch. I hadn't been to one since we lived in Texas. It was as good as I remembered. I took a picture of MFS and it's below.

After lunch, we said good bye to MFS and the three of us, BDHA, MFD and myself went to Sarris Candy for our obligatory Easter trip. I think it was the fastest I've ever made. We were in and out of there within 20 minutes. Below you will see the famous Sarris Candy chocolate castle (as much that would fit into the frame) and also a picture of MFD and BDHA standing in front of it. (He would like you to know that the Cubs are playing tonight).

After dropping BDHA off at home, MFD and I ran some errands and went to Pat Catan's (craft store) and figured out what we were going to do for her shower favors. Her maid of honor lives in Chicago so we'll be doing most of the work to get ready.

It's now pretty late and I should be heading to bed. I have my ultrasound tomorrow morning and will be going in to work afterwards. I have plenty of Advil and Motrin to see me through the week. Now that I know what to expect, I'll start taking the meds as soon as the pain starts. By the way, the other doctor who also examined me (fellow) was surprised that I felt the pain the first time. She said for most people it didn't kick in until the second one. I guess I was one of the lucky ones who felt it the first time. Wish I was that lucky at the lottery.

Change of subject:
I have had a facebook account since last summer. However, after I set it up, I didn't go back to see what was going on until the other day. Turns out I had two emails from people who knew me. One was one of my best friends from highschool with whom I had lost touch. The other was a name that I didn't recognize. He said that we went to junior high together and were in french class together. He said he used to call me Suesan LaVoie-Ture (la voiture in french means the car). My name was Suesan LaVoie. I still don't remember his name but I do remember some boy calling me that. Funny how that brings back memories of things mostly forgotten. Just wish I could remember more about him.

My neighbor who passed, was a WWII veteran. He was wounded twice and earned two purple hears with the oak leaf. He was a survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. He, along with many others, were captured by the Germans. However, they didn't want to deal with pows so they lined them up and shot them. My neighbot ended up being covered by other soldiers who were killed and he made it out alive. It's an amazing story of survival and he lived a good long life. He was 86. He has a way (street) named after him here in Coraopolis. I am proud to have known Albert M. Valenzi.

Take care everyone and good night.

Alright Already!

I'm being nagged about updating my blog....sorry peoples!

After my last chemo, I was feeling okay until the third day. Then the pain started. I knew that I might feel aches and pains but I wasn't prepared for how it really felt. Every bone, muscle and joint ached. I didn't go in to work that Wednesday or Thursday after the chemo. I called the Cancer Center on Thursday and spoke with my nurse. She told me that the pain usually starts after the 2nd day and lasts for 3-4 days. (Wished they told me that while I was there so I could prepare myself). She told me I could start with 600 mg of Motrin every 6 hours and go up to 800. I stayed with the 600 and it brought it down to a dull ache. I went in to work on Friday but left an hour early as the pain started coming back. I spent the entire day in bed on Saturday and made myself go to the grocery store on Sunday just to get my body moving.

The other thing that made me feel so bad was that my blood sugar was out of control. That Wednesday after my chemo, I had an appointment with Dr. B, my PCP. He said I really needed to work on it, otherwise they might not be able to do the surgery. He knew that I would be having problems but he felt that I needed to work through accepting the chemo and everything it entailed before asking me to add one more thing to deal with. So, as of last week, I have added one shot of insulin to my daily routine along with a pill twice a day. My numbers have come down drastically and I am amazed at how good I feel. I almost feel normal. Now when I'm tired, it's more like needing a nap vs my entire body feeling exhausted and barely able to move.

My next chemo is this coming Monday, the 6th. I'm a little anxious about the pain but now I know what to expect and I can start the Motrin early. I have an ultrasound scheduled for the 7th to see what the tumor's doing and how much it has shrunk. I'll post and let you know what they find.

I wanted to thank Sarah at ServiceLink for the beautiful angel visor clip that she gave to me with the breast cancer ribbon. I will take a picture and post it the next time. Thanks Sarah.

Cash Gardner
My nephew, Cash, and his parents, left on a trip to France today. They're going to try and visit all the places that Mr. Bean visited in "Mr. Bean's Vacation". He will try to post every day with pictures. If you wish to follow along, his blog is http://www.cashgardner.blogspot.com. I'm sure they'll have fun.

I will post again soon. Good night!