Not-so-simple Monday

Ahh, what to say about Monday!

Once again, an appointment that was supposed to be a 1/2 day got dragged into an all day affair - with a trip to the ER as 'frosting.'

Monday morning I had to go in to have the port 'installed' as a prep for the chemo on Thursday. The port rests on your chest wall, runs up the clavicle and into the jugular vein by your neck, and eventually lands somewhere above the heart. I didn't realize it went that far! The surgery itself when just fine. Josh stayed with Abby (who was sick that day) out in the rest of the building while I went back to do my thing. Apparently I was quite chatty during the whole thing. I can remember asking questions about what he was doing, why, what other kind of surgeries he did, how often - weird things. I shoulda just napped! At one point the nurse asked for another dosage, which I presume they gave, but I still kept a running conversation. Odd.

Post-surgery, I was in LaLa Land - and lovin' it! We packed up our things, wheeled me out and headed home. Josh stopped at a gas station for some drinks and that's when it went downhill. I puked twice in their bushes and felt much better after that! Went home, laid down to rest, puked some more. A friend came over to cut my hair to donate it to a children's organization like Locks of Love (pic coming as soon as anyone's healthy enough to take it.) She would cut, I would puke while she sweeped up the hair; cut/puke, cut/puke. You see where I'm going with this.

Wiped out, I rested a bit more until after dinner. The cracker and Propel I sipped didn't stay down and I was feeling miserable and a bit scared. It's one thing to get the flu and understand why you feel the way you do, it's another to not understand the cause of your troubles. That, and I couldn't take any pain meds until I could keep things down, and I was too tense to get my stomach to settle, so I couldn't take the pain meds in order to relax - another vicious cycle. Another friend must've called at that time and Josh asked her to come over so we could go to the med center/ER.

Once there, I showed them my already existing admit-band and they graciously triaged us RIGHT away and got me to a bed where I could lay down again. They started fluids and some anti-nausea meds which did help a bit, but b/c there was no good reason for me to be having trouble, a call to the Intervention Radiologist (who installed the port) directed a CT chest scan to check for blood clots.

The whole CT scan process went horribly! We spoke with the folks at Spectrum Health, so...enough has been said.

CT scan came back clear, and they connected the dots that, like the vicatin (sp.), whatever other narcotic they gave me at the surgery was causing my nausea. So we packed up, got dressed, though I laid back down b/c I still didn't feel confident (even after the anti-nausea meds they'd already given) that I'd make it home. She gave me a second, smaller dose. We drove home, I puked, and went to bed. So much for the meds!

This morning, stuff has stayed down, I was able to eat a full dinner and got several naps in during the day. Josh has come down with the awful head cold going around, so our TV/babysitter has been on about as much today as it ever is in a week!

And that was our Monday. Calendar said 'port 8:00' and 'haircut 2:00' but it turned out to be much more! Phew! Another day done :)
Thanks everyone for the continued prayers and support!!
Signing off!
-amanda