I know you're just dying to hear about Nurse Ratched, part 2 (and parts 3 & 4, if I tell that many stories), but something much more monumental happened today. I had my first chemo. Only I almost didn't, and I'm glad I was thinking on my feet and had my nurse hat on this morning.
Now, if you look at the time this is posted, you will think...good grief, shouldn't she be sleeping instead of blogging in the middle of the night? Well, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, the steroids they gave me plus the busy day have me wound up. I tried to sleep for a little while and now I'm trying to the Pooh Bear cure for insomnia...a fully tummy and an empty mind. So I've had some toast (with honey butter), I'm drinking some Sleepytime Tea, and pouring out my heart in hopes of catching a few hours of shuteye before NOS has to go to Credit Recovery an hour before school starts (don't ask).
Before my mom left when she came up to stay with the kids when I went up to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago for my allergic reaction and follow-up doctor appointments, I asked her if she would go to my first chemotherapy treatment with me. I knew DH would probably have to stay at work since he'd missed a week for my initial appointments before surgery and two weeks for my surgery and recovery. Plus I figured since she and Dad are retired they could clear up their schedule with a little less notice than most of my girlfriends. So since I knew they were coming back and in 10 days we'd be going out of town, what did I do? Well, once I started feeling better toward the end of last week, I procrastinated. Yep, that's right. Didn't give a second's thought to which car we'd drive (mine's been kinda iffy off and on), where we'd stay, rides for the kids, laundry, housecleaning, etc. I spent a couple of hours putting most the clothes away we'd washed (well, sorting them so the kids could put them away) and I'd bought a couple of things to help with organization but I didn't bother to take them out of the package, and I made a cleaning list for the kids to do Saturday. I was kind of irritated at the effort, or lack thereof, they'd been making on keeping the house somewhat neat, especially NOS. So I thought a Saturday spent doing chores instead of playing would help them remember. And off I went to help some friends move...and by "help" I mean mostly supervise, since I have a 10 pound lifting restriction. Oh well, it was nice to hang out since I really haven't gotten to in a few weeks...
So needless to say, the house was not up to my parents' exacting standards (I'm thoroughly convinced the housekeeping trait skips a generation, even if you are adopted) but it was much better than it was before. My parents arrived and we ate lunch at a pizza buffet (good thing Mom & I totally noshed, but I'll get to that later) and then I started getting ready to go. I waffled on taking my car, but after I talked to DH, he convinced me that mine might not make it there and back, and we'd be in a world of hurt if it didn't. So I talked to my GF Pinup Barber who was happy to let me borrow her much newer and nicer car. Easy, peasy, lemon...wait, not so fast. Her hubby was worried about the condition of the front tires and the nail in one of the back ones...ok, a 450ish mile round trip is probably not a good idea, then. So she came over and we started running through the list of possibilities...and the only good one seemed to be to just rent a car. So I drove a cutesy little Nissan Versa up and back...adorable and good gas mileage with lots of legroom...I may have to see if I can find something similar for myself soon.
So I got packed (forgot my glasses, my flyer for the place we were staying, my Carmex, and my eyebrow highlighter), we dropped off some paperwork at the bar and I left an unnecessarily overly detailed note of what to do with it for our day bartender, and Pinup Barber drove us to the airport to pick up the rental car. That's the bad part about leaving to go up there on Sunday...airport locations are the only one's open.
We hit the road and our trip was relatively uneventful. We got to chat about different things, some cancer-related, mostly not. It was wonderful to have so much one-on-one time with my mom this weekend. I could not tell you the last time we got to visit so much without constant interruptions. We laughed about the cruise control...every time I'd "resume" it felt like Mario Andretti took over, I mean just floored, up to over 5000 RPMs, etc. Crazy. We commented on the number of vineyards along I-44 and the seemingly never ending road construction. Finally we got to the outskirts of St. Louis and I started thinking about where I was supposed to go. I realized I hadn't brought a map with me and I wasn't 100% sure. So I called DH and he confirmed my tentative directions. Then when we got to our exit I asked Mom to get the notebook with the card for where we were staying...only it wasn't in the notebook, it was still on my baker's rack at home. So I called DH again and he Googled it and found the address and gave me some directions. Only the map he was looking at made it seem like some roads connected where they didn't, but I found it and I found where to go in and where to park.
I was kind of excited because I'd managed to score a reservation at Barnes Lodge. It was right by the hospital and for some reason I got it in my brain it was free if you were a patient. So we get in there with all our luggage (OK so there wasn't that much, it only took one trip) and the clerk hands each of us a laminated paper with information and rules on it. Both sides, fairly small print. Covers everything you can think of. And it says it's $30/night per bed. They're twin beds so that's two so that equals...$60 (no tax). OK that's not too bad, maybe more than the Motel 6 but a lot less than the Hilton. I give her the money, she makes copies of both our driver's licenses and fills out her end of the paperwork and then, she walks over to the closet and hands us our LINEN PACKET and points us to the STAIRS. Yep, that's right, we get to schlep all our luggage (OK so it was only two bags apiece plus purses, it only took one trip) upstairs and then go to our rooms and make our own beds. And get this...with two flat sheets! That's right, old school hospital corners that Mom and I learned in nursing school, nearly 30 years apart, but haven't used since because HOSPITALS USE FITTED SHEETS NOW!! At least in developed countries!!
The room managed to combine the ambiance of a Motel 6 with the comfort of a public hospital with just a touch of ancient college dorm room thrown in. Mom was a trouper, if I'd have complained at all she'd have agreed and been outta there. Blech! The beds were as cushioned as concrete, the AC made the room feel damp but it was too hot to turn it off, and the whole thing just seemed...seedy. It's what I imagine a pay-by-the-hour motel room to be like. Stay a second night? Um, no, I don't think so. I'd sleep in my car first!
We kind of slept, me better than her thanks to pharmaceuticals, and we were up early and ready to get out of there before we caught something and just get the show on the road. We were at the hospital over an hour before my lab appointment, so we had a leisurely, expensive breakfast in the hospital cafeteria. $13 for a yogurt, 2 cups of fruit, 2 coffees, and a tiny order of bacon, eggs and a biscuit and gravy. Ouch! I hope they give a good employee discount, because that seems a little spendy if you have to eat there every day.
And then we head up to the 7th floor, and that's where the fun begins! I checked in at the lab, and they gave me one of those little blinky-vibrating things like they give you when you have to wait at Chili's. It went off about 10 minutes later and the MA had no trouble drawing blood out of my ginormous AC. I'm not kidding, you could hit that thing blindfolded with one arm tied behind your back from 10 paces. We went across to the doctor's office and checked in and even though I sat where the told me to, the MA had trouble finding me.
She gets us back into the room and the hits just keep on coming. My home med list on the computer was all wrong...but only because it had all the stuff on it that was about to be prescribed...so she started deleting stuff. About half way through I figured that out and stopped her. The Dr. M's fellow came in. Nice guy, introduced himself (although I don't remember his name), asked me some questions, told me my liver enzymes on my labs two weeks ago were out of whack, examined me, and then told me no chemo today and I needed to have a CT of my chest, abdomen, and pelvis (with and without IV and PO contrast, I found out later!) before we could start chemo. He was worried that I had either liver mets or hepatitis. Even though I had NO symptoms of either. So I told him two weeks ago I was still taking a lot of pain meds, especially things with acetaminophen in them, since I wasn't jaundiced, my bili wasn't elevated and my liver was not palpable, not to mention my nodes were negative and my surgeon got clear margins, could we PERHAPS recheck labs before we do an expensive and uncomfortable test (OK so it's probably not that bad, I was just thinking about the contrast) and postpone my chemo, especially since we drove almost 4 hours!! He wasn't convinced, but when my doctor came in, I started in on her too and talked her into it!!
Guess what...when they drew labs...still elevated but trending down...big surprise! If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, quit looking for evidence it's a cow before you exhaust all possibilities it's a duck!! I was released to go back to the treatment center and get another blinky-vibrating thing, and this time, since it was over an hour past my appointment time, I got to wait much longer. Then we went to the pod, got my IV but I needed MORE LABWORK!! so she had to wait on it before she could start my chemo. Finally just before two, it got started.
And that's where I'm going to have to stop for now. Apparently the Winnie-the-Pooh cure for insomnia worked and now I can barely hold my eyes open or complete a thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment