Cancer was not boring this week

Well, there’s been a blip in the easy chemo route and Cancer has definitely not been boring this week.

After a great Easter Weekend with Friday seafood buffet at the Yacht Club and Easter Sunday Brunch with my church group at Meadowbrook Golf Course, I had my 5th Chemo on Monday.

Nancy Kennedy and Judy Baerg accompanied me. Judy brought along the most beautiful yarn for Nancy and me and attempted to teach us to knit. We got really good at the “pulling out stitches” part. Our scarves were supposed to have 20 stitches across. By the end of our session, I had 27! It did keep us, other patients and nurses thoroughly entertained. Chemo went fast that day.

We went to “Indochine “ in UP for lunch and laughed a lot. I came home and took a nap. I had noticed that I was tiring more after treatments, which I had been warned would happen.

Tuesday I took a long walk uphill with my walking buddy, Carolyn Hudson and went into Oncology for my white blood cell shot. That night my son, Georg, and I played cards until 11PM.

Wednesday, I could hardly stand up. Did manage to get my make up on, get dressed (there are priorities!) and get into a chair before my traveling nurse showed up. I was running a slight temperature and she convinced me to go into Oncology, where they gave me intravenous fluids to re-hydrate me and sent me home. Felt much better but went to sleep early. Started getting chills and the shakes during the night.

Mike took me into the hospital with a temperature of 104.4. They ran tests on me in the ER and admitted me. My teeth were chattering so much, I couldn’t breathe. As my temperature reached 104.9, they told me I had to remove all blankets and they were going to put an ice blanket on me.

I told them they were out of their minds.

Luckily the massive antibiotics kicked in and my temperature went down. There was a blip on my lungs which I worried was cancer and was relieved to find out was only pneumonia.Now the fun began and they had to figure out what I had.

I had E Coli sepsis bacteria that had invaded my blood stream and was running rampant. They couldn’t find the source. I had two blood transfusions on Saturday. After getting slightly better, I got worse.

On Sunday, they decided that my port was infected. The surgeon wanted to wait to Monday to operate because my platelet level was 60. I told him if he waited until Monday, it would be lower as that was usually my nadir. I got a platelet transfusion. He operated.

I felt instantly better and planned to go home on Monday. after another CT and chest XRay.Three of my Doctors signed me out but I waited all day for my Intensive Medicine Doctor, who showed up at 6 PM. Mike had packed my bags and we were ready to escape.

She told me she had just come across my ECHO test and I had blip on my right heartvalve. I would have to remain in the hospital for more tests and would be on intravenous antibiotics for the next 6 weeks. As the implications sunk in, I was devastated. Did this mean the cancer had metastasized?

After she left the room, Mike asked me when I had taken the ECHO test. I said I knew I had one in January. Perhaps that was the one to which she was referring. But she had mentioned it was the day I was admitted. I remember very little of that day. Mike said he was with me that whole day and he didn’t remember that test.

He went out to talk to her.It turned out she was reading 3 charts of different patients, at the same time. The test in question was done on another patient, not me.

I was home free and we ran out of the hospital, not even waiting for the customary wheelchair.

New instructions given me are that I can do no gardening, eat no raw veggies or fruit, can’t have fresh flowers in the house, can’t eat nuts with shells or cheese with mold etc. Also I am not to go to buffets...

Feel fine but have very low white blood cells and low platelets. Therefore I'm lying low and seeing no visitors this week until my counts are up. You can always call me or e-mail me. It's great to be home. Will love having this chemo over but next and last session may be rescheduled.

Thanks for your calls and support and those wonderful hospital visits. My first Friday Lunch group sent me beautiful flowers from Blitz. However they weren’t allowed on the floor so they were delivered to the house. Mike took pictures of them and printed them on an 8x10 sheet and put them on an easel in my hospital room. Now the picture sits atop my piano and reminds me of my dear friends.

Thank you all.