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.