Monday, September 20, 2010
P.S. to Update for Sept. 20, 2010
David had a very positive visit this afternoon with the internist and has several tests scheduled, which we hope will go a long way towards finding the answers to these blackouts and collapsing episodes. He will see the doctor again Oct. 13 and we hope to have some ideas then.
Update - September 20, 2010
Good morning! I have not updated this blog for almost a month, so there is lots to tell you.
The last week of August and the first week of September were pretty quiet – just the usual stuff. I had chemo on schedule; David had another trip to London for an eye check-up that went well. We enjoyed going to a pig roast one weekend and having lunch with another couple as well. I had a couple of solo lunch and dinner dates – an enjoyable time and I was feeling pretty good.
However, the Saturday night of Labour Day weekend, I had a lot of pain in my side during the night and I asked David to take me to Emerg. Sunday morning. We were there the whole morning – another CT scan and chest x-ray – and lots of waiting. However, I do have to say that they took me right in – didn’t even ‘touch down’ in the waiting room. The verdict was that I had a lot of fluid around my right lung but in light of my plans to fly to Texas later that week, doing a fluid drain at that time was not a good idea. So, home I went with a prescription for pain pills.
Two days later, (Tuesday) I had a regular appointment in Windsor with my oncologist. She had some concerns from the CT scan I had had in July and did not realize that I had had another one Sunday morning. She was unable to call that up (the hospitals are linked wirelessly) and did not want to make a decision about the fluid either until she had seen the most recent x-ray and scan. She is concerned that the cancer might have invaded my liver - NOT news I wanted to hear. However, not much I can do about it. We left it that I would have a regular appointment again Oct. 6.
Wednesday, Amy arrived after her own doctor’s appointment , which went very well. We packed and got ourselves ready for an early departure the next day. I was concerned to leave David for that long because of his dizzy spells and when Amy arrived and saw how he was, she called back to Kitchcner and asked if Lian could come to Chatham for longer than the weekend planned. Lian agreed; she’d arrive by supper Thursday and stay until Wed. morning. So, I felt much better about that – Mike would be down for the weekend, too.
Thursday morning we set off in high spirits to drive to Detroit to catch the plane. It is a direct flight to Austin of 2.5 hours – very doable on an oxygen concentrator. We had expected a lot of checking for my machine, but nobody was interested. I am able to be a ‘wheelchair person’ and that gets me a lot of other advantages getting through the airport to the gate. We had a good flight, Steve was waiting in the luggage area and it was 93F ! Yeah, Texas !
We had a wonderful week there. Amy had rented a little house through HomeAway.com that was only a few blocks from Steve and Kristen’s house, right in the neighbourhood that we knew. We just loved it ! Very well appointed and attractive. We had lots of meals out, lots of visits with Kristen’s mom, lots of good times and helped Steve celebrate his birthday. I saw Clay’s school and classroom (got the full tour!), went to his violin lesson, warched Emmy working on learning to crawl, and Lily just enjoying life. ( Lily is 2 and likes to be barefoot so that she has better traction. ) The last day, Steve and Kristen treated Amy and I to a morning at Lake Austin Spa, which we all enjoyed. Amy and I had facials and manicures and Steve and Kristen had pedicures – Steve wound up with ‘shiny toes’. It was a great day.
We returned to Detroit Thursday to a rainstorm and 60F weather – I wanted to get right back on the plane and go back to Texas. While we had been in Texas, there had been a call from my oncologist’s office saying that I had the fluid drain scheduled for Friday, Sept. 17. I was a little anxious (How big will that needle be, anyhow?) but it turned out to be quite easy. The radiologist removed 1.2 L of fluid; an ‘after’ x-ray showed that there was still more, so I might have to do it again. If so, it will be no problem.
Mike and Lian returned this past weekend and did their usual magic around the house. All my big ‘jungle’ of tropical plants are safely back in the house, back grass is cut, lovely meals prepared and eaten, groceries bought – all the things that I used to be able to do so effortlessly. We appreciate the help and love of our children so much. I truly don’t know what we would have done this year without that.
Today we have a doctor’s appointment for David to see if we can get some answers to these dizzy spells – I am hoping and praying for help for him with that.
So – things are going well, although the possibility of liver involvement is scary. I should find out more about that in October. Sometimes I feel like there is a monster lurking in my body, ready to pounce when I least expect it and that is very unnerving. However, those are also the moments when I have to make a conscious decision to trust in God’s ongoing care for me and turn away from that fear. Regardless of the outcome, I know that I live ‘under the bubble’ of His care; nothing happens to me that He does not know about or is not able to help me with. I just have to keep looking at Him and not the monster.
May God keep you today, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
The last week of August and the first week of September were pretty quiet – just the usual stuff. I had chemo on schedule; David had another trip to London for an eye check-up that went well. We enjoyed going to a pig roast one weekend and having lunch with another couple as well. I had a couple of solo lunch and dinner dates – an enjoyable time and I was feeling pretty good.
However, the Saturday night of Labour Day weekend, I had a lot of pain in my side during the night and I asked David to take me to Emerg. Sunday morning. We were there the whole morning – another CT scan and chest x-ray – and lots of waiting. However, I do have to say that they took me right in – didn’t even ‘touch down’ in the waiting room. The verdict was that I had a lot of fluid around my right lung but in light of my plans to fly to Texas later that week, doing a fluid drain at that time was not a good idea. So, home I went with a prescription for pain pills.
Two days later, (Tuesday) I had a regular appointment in Windsor with my oncologist. She had some concerns from the CT scan I had had in July and did not realize that I had had another one Sunday morning. She was unable to call that up (the hospitals are linked wirelessly) and did not want to make a decision about the fluid either until she had seen the most recent x-ray and scan. She is concerned that the cancer might have invaded my liver - NOT news I wanted to hear. However, not much I can do about it. We left it that I would have a regular appointment again Oct. 6.
Wednesday, Amy arrived after her own doctor’s appointment , which went very well. We packed and got ourselves ready for an early departure the next day. I was concerned to leave David for that long because of his dizzy spells and when Amy arrived and saw how he was, she called back to Kitchcner and asked if Lian could come to Chatham for longer than the weekend planned. Lian agreed; she’d arrive by supper Thursday and stay until Wed. morning. So, I felt much better about that – Mike would be down for the weekend, too.
Thursday morning we set off in high spirits to drive to Detroit to catch the plane. It is a direct flight to Austin of 2.5 hours – very doable on an oxygen concentrator. We had expected a lot of checking for my machine, but nobody was interested. I am able to be a ‘wheelchair person’ and that gets me a lot of other advantages getting through the airport to the gate. We had a good flight, Steve was waiting in the luggage area and it was 93F ! Yeah, Texas !
We had a wonderful week there. Amy had rented a little house through HomeAway.com that was only a few blocks from Steve and Kristen’s house, right in the neighbourhood that we knew. We just loved it ! Very well appointed and attractive. We had lots of meals out, lots of visits with Kristen’s mom, lots of good times and helped Steve celebrate his birthday. I saw Clay’s school and classroom (got the full tour!), went to his violin lesson, warched Emmy working on learning to crawl, and Lily just enjoying life. ( Lily is 2 and likes to be barefoot so that she has better traction. ) The last day, Steve and Kristen treated Amy and I to a morning at Lake Austin Spa, which we all enjoyed. Amy and I had facials and manicures and Steve and Kristen had pedicures – Steve wound up with ‘shiny toes’. It was a great day.
We returned to Detroit Thursday to a rainstorm and 60F weather – I wanted to get right back on the plane and go back to Texas. While we had been in Texas, there had been a call from my oncologist’s office saying that I had the fluid drain scheduled for Friday, Sept. 17. I was a little anxious (How big will that needle be, anyhow?) but it turned out to be quite easy. The radiologist removed 1.2 L of fluid; an ‘after’ x-ray showed that there was still more, so I might have to do it again. If so, it will be no problem.
Mike and Lian returned this past weekend and did their usual magic around the house. All my big ‘jungle’ of tropical plants are safely back in the house, back grass is cut, lovely meals prepared and eaten, groceries bought – all the things that I used to be able to do so effortlessly. We appreciate the help and love of our children so much. I truly don’t know what we would have done this year without that.
Today we have a doctor’s appointment for David to see if we can get some answers to these dizzy spells – I am hoping and praying for help for him with that.
So – things are going well, although the possibility of liver involvement is scary. I should find out more about that in October. Sometimes I feel like there is a monster lurking in my body, ready to pounce when I least expect it and that is very unnerving. However, those are also the moments when I have to make a conscious decision to trust in God’s ongoing care for me and turn away from that fear. Regardless of the outcome, I know that I live ‘under the bubble’ of His care; nothing happens to me that He does not know about or is not able to help me with. I just have to keep looking at Him and not the monster.
May God keep you today, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)