Chemo Round Four

Went up to the hospital yesterday AM...we got there a little after 8am and then went up to my room....not on my old unit (bummer) but on the unit next door. I went over to 4East to check if Marcia was working and she wasn't...so I wouldn't have seen her anyway.

My nurse was nice...I ended up having three different nurses over the course of the day...the treatment went on so long.

They started at 10am with the premeds and then Sandy got a call from Jean. It was about Lily. Jean came to the house early to let the dogs out. We had told her she didn't have to come early, but thank goodness she did. When she opened Lily's kennel to let her out, Lily stepped out and promptly collapsed on the floor.

Her front paw was "knuckling under" and her back legs were splaying out to the side. She couldn't move.

Suffice it to say, Sandy hit the room back to Connecticut to see what was going on. Also suffice it to say, they noted my BP went up forty points after I heard this news.

The chemo started and I waited for word from home. The news I got was encouraging...Lily was doing better. Phew! Sandy thought Lily was overdosed on her anxiety meds. It turns out that this was NOT what was happening. More on that later.

Sandy returned to hospital in time to be there when they started the Carboplatinum. That is the chemo that I had the reaction to last time. They started it slowly and gradually built up the strength and the flow rate. It took six hours to go through the whole process....it usually takes me an hour and a half to get it.

They were very cautious...once they started the Carbo a nurse had to be in the room with me at all times and they watched me like a hawk. They took my vitals every 15 minutes and were pleased at how consistent they remained. I did flush a few times, but it was from hot flashes and not the chemo.

We finally finished up at 10:30 and we rushed out and got on the road home as fast as possible.

Imagine my shock when I saw Lily...here I thought she was walking, Sandy had said that she was doing better....I guess I didn't hear or didn't want to hear, how bad it was. Lily was lying on her bed in the living, with Jean keeping a close eye on her. When I came in she tried to get up and her back legs were just flailing around helplessly. I went over and petted her and kissed her and told her I was all right. Her tail was thumping so hard.

I turned around and walked back in the kitchen to put my bags down...I hear a noise, it's Jean crying out....Lily! I look and here comes Lily, she had gotten up and was WALKING to me! Jean said, "that's the most she's done all day!"

Sandy got Lily upstairs, using a sling under her hind and her harness that she wears for a restraint in the car. Lily helped a lot, putting her feet down and pulling herself up. She flopped on her bed and didn't move...except she managed to roll over in the night.

This morning she was even better, walking across the bedroom floor with minimal assistance from Sandy. Her front paw still "knuckles."

Sandy took her to Ocean State Animal Hospital and the doctor there said she thought Lily had either done something to a vertebrae in her neck or had a piece of verterbrae break off and form a little clot. Sandy had heard of this before.

The doctor felt that since Lily was improving so quickly, it probably was not Lyme disease, another thing we thought it might be. She also said that she's never heard of "knuckling" happening with Lyme disease.

She told Sandy to keep giving Lily the anti-inflammatory once a day and having her rest. Now she is getting up by herself and can walk a bit more. The "knuckling" is subsiding a bit. We are hopeful she will continue to improve. Later, when she's had a chance to rest, Sandy will take her up to Wizard of Paws, the doggie physical therapist to see if she would benefit from that type of care.

So, it was a very exciting day. A long, exhausting day. Sandy was so tired after having had to get up at 5am to get the dogs fed, etc., then having to drive me an hour out to the hospital; an hour back home; an hour back to the hospital and then another hour driving me home. She was worried about Lily and very tired. She got snappy with me on the way home. I told her I should drive...it was my car. She said I couldn't drive because I just had all those drugs. I shut up.

This morning I told her I thought she was more impaired than I was last night....she had to agree. DUH! She almost ran into an ambulance, then was slow to get out of the way of a car who was trying to hit us...and then kept yawning (and sighing) the who way home....I would have been a better driver than she was last night!

So, I'm doing fine and Lily is on the mend from whatever it was that happened.

I guess that for my next two chemo treatments I'll be going to the hospital instead of to the Oncology Center. Won't break my heart! The nurses were great and lots of fun, believe it or not...we did a lot of laughing yesterday. I can't wait to go back!

Only two more to go! YAY!

Tomorrow the Huskies play at noon. The Vols were eliminated today by Baylor. I wouldn't mind seeing Baylor play the Huskies next weekend in the semifinals. But I don't want to get too far ahead...want to enjoy each game as it comes along.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!

Nighty night

Thursday before Chemo???

No call so far, so we are assuming that I will be getting chemo tomorrow. We head up there early, have to be there at 8am.

I haven't been feeling well at all for the past week. Everything I do exhausts me, so I was willing to bet my counts were still way too low. Guess I was wrong.

I hope I do get chemo tomorrow. This will be my fourth treatment, put me "over the hump" and I will have only two to go.

I will have my laptop at the hospital with me so I can blog about the whole experience.

Now I have to go pack a bag, in case I have to stay overnight at the hospital.

Wish me luck!

Nighty night!

BIG NEWS!

Nothing really to report...just wanted to get your heart's racing. Ha ha! (as Nelson says).

I've been resting up a bit. Have been able to do some work around the house. Saturday night Mark and Carol came over for fish and chips from Occum. I vacuumed and cleaned downstairs AND did laundry. After supper (on the deck---a bit chilly) I managed to sit with them for about a half hour and then I had to go up to bed. I was POOPED!

I still can't get over how exhausted I am. Those chemicals (chemo)are POTENT! I guess they have to be since they kill cancer.

Yesterday Lynne came up and Sandy, Lynne and I went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's to
celebrate Sandy's new job!!!! Yes, Sandy got the first shift IT job at Backus. She will be working M-F, some occasional weekend work and on-call two to three times a year. And, she may even be able to stay at home and handle the calls through remote access on her computer!

WOW!!! AND, HOLIDAYS OFF! AND......AND.....AND....A LOT more $$ than we thought she would be making! We are pinching ourselves.

Someone once said that you make your own luck. We feel that we have been lucky, but we HAVE made a lot of our own luck. We went to school, got speckial training, were flexible and moved around in the same organization, paying our dues and getting a variety of experience. And our rewards are: me getting the management job and being able to retire early with a good retirement check and now she is getting the reward of a desk job, doing something she loves and maybe even getting something she has wanted for years....an office. I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.

Another of my ship's might be coming in. I joined the AOL lawsuit...over them not paying us when we were "Community Leaders." I was the host of the women's basketball chatroom for years without compensation beyond getting my AOL service free. Someone sued and I joined in the suit. Now "we" (meaning the lawyers) have won the suit and we will be getting $$ in payment for our services. The average settlement is $3,000+ I'd be surprised if I got that, but anything would be a very nice GIFT!

The Huskies are tearing up the tournament thus far. It's halftime now in t he Temple game and UConn is shooting 78% from the field. They are winning by 43 points. Maya Moore has been on fire. I think she heard what C. Vivian Stringer said about her...that "she's a player who, in big games, get late start." I think C Viv is onto something there...and I think Geno showed the article to Maya. I wouldn't put it past him.

BTW, do you think Geno will mellow once he becomes a grandfather? His daughter is going to have a baby in a couple of months. That will be something to see. I know Calhoun mellowed A LOT when he became a grandpa.

I'm going to Kohl's tomorrow and hitting that handbag and shoe sale HARD!! I'm going to try on pointed toe shoes and everything you would think I would NEVER do! I've been watching Kelly and Clinton a lot lately. I am completely under their spell.

Oh, there's a couple of new shows that deal with hoarding. "Hoarding, Buried Alive", which we are recording and Niecy Nash has that "Clean House" or whatever it is. Sandy, Carol and Mark watched that the other night while I was upstairs and I could hear their "retching sounds," even with the bedroom door shut.

Another show I have found that I love is "The IT Crowd," an english show on the Independent Film Channel. So funny.

I've been reading more lately. Staying on top of my New Yorkers for once. Also finished Steve Rushin's "The Pint Man" and am now starting on a volume of his short stories "The Caddy was a Reindeer." He is so funny.

Okay, the second half is starting up. Have to run.

Nighty night!