Cancer Recurrence: Catching Up

Hello everyone… I know I’ve been out of touch for awhile, quite a bit happened and between medical appointments, work, and being so darn tired I wasn’t able to keep up with emails, Facebook and blogging.  So, to start catching you up, here is a summary of what occurred between mid-April thru mid-July.

After my 2nd round of chemo I ended up in Urgent Care with a bronchial infection and missed a whole week of work. The following weekend I was in Urgent Care again for middle ear inflammation. Even though I was suffering from a bronchial infection and middle ear inflammation, the Urgent Care doctor did not give me antibiotics. I was sick, in pain, and was having real trouble hearing. On April 19th I verbally browbeat the after hours answering service for the cancer center into having the on-call doctor call me, even though it was not technically an emergency. He called me in a Z-pak, thank God. Two days later I was in to see my family doctor for fluid in my ears and blood in my urine. I was also having bad pains in my right shoulder and neck area, especially when I coughed.

On April 25th mom had to put her boxer, Sassy, down because of cancer.

On April 27th my Missy Bug died.

Somehow, for some reason, she got over the fence and out front into the road. Mom found her and buried her before I got home, she didn’t want me to see her like that. Missy was my baby girl, it just broke my heart to lose her. I still choke up and cry when I think about her. One day at the end of August, Simon brought a young bunny in through the cat door, I rescued it and tried to warm it up to release in the morning but it ended up dying. I walked down to discard it into the woods at the back of the property, on my way back I spotted the marker mom put at Missy’s grave. I hadn’t been to see it yet, it was still too hard, I cried the whole way back to the house.

On April 29th I went down for my third round of chemo, mom had something going on so my sister, Laura, took me. When they were doing the pre-chemo blood work, I complained about the pain and having a little trouble swallowing. The nurse went and got someone to come look at me… she came, took a look, asked me some questions and said, “We think you have a blood clot.” The sent me directly over to have an ultrasound done. Yep, I had a clot! Poor Laura… this wasn’t what she expected. I was admitted into the hospital immediately with a very large blood clot in my juggler. The clot was branching up towards my head, down my arm, and down towards my chest where the Port was. I was scheduled for surgery on May 2nd to replace my Port. I was in so much pain I was crying… I was on a Heparin drip to thin my blood (which also caused me to swell even more), but the pain was terrible. It wasn’t until late that night when a nurse finally called the doctor and said they needed to be giving me something for the pain. I was put on morphine, then Percocet was added, and eventually a muscle relaxant (can’t remember the name). That went on between Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. Monday morning I had the surgery to replace my port, but when he got in there, there was so much scar tissue… he said it appeared that my body was rejecting the port. So he removed the port from my chest and put a PICC line in my left arm. When he removed the port a huge part of the clot came out with it, which caused most of the pain to disappear. I had my 3rd round of chemo that evening. I ended up staying two more days, I was released from the hospital on May 4th around 6 PM.

My PICC Line

Port Scars

My swollen feet/ankles/legs. I couldn't wear my shoes, I had to buy a pair that were a size larger so I had something to put on my feet.  I also wore my slippers alot.

These are the flowers dad sent me when I was in the hospital... came with a little stuffed cat, but I didn't get a pic of the cat.  It's on my shelf now.

My oncologist wanted me off work for two weeks, but I went back a few days earlier on a 6 hour schedule. I was on major blood thinners, one is a shot mom had to give me in the stomach every night. You should’ve seen all the bruises on my stomach. I tired very easily, which is why I wasn’t online for quite awhile... just gettin' through the day was hard enough. The biggest blood clot came out when they removed my port, but I still had three smaller ones that will take awhile to dissolve. They also switched the shots I was taking… from Arixtra to Fragmin. I developed a severe reaction from it, I had yeast all through my system, it was coming out all over. I had a vaginal yeast infection, a yeast infection on my side and under my breast, on my legs between my ankles and my knees, and in my esophagus. It was awful.

Bruise from stomach shot.
(mom felt so bad)

May 20th was my 4th round of chemo. Six days later I was in the Emergency Room for shortness of breath. It was after hours and the PA wanted to be sure a blood clot hadn’t traveled to my lungs. With each round of chemo I was getting more and more short of breath and they weren’t sure if I would notice the difference. It wasn’t a blood clot in my lungs.

Because of the PICC line, they stepped up my chemo schedule from every three weeks to every two weeks.

June 3rd had my 5th round of chemo.  This FROG was given to me by another woman receiving chemo.  Her name is Michelle Scott and she started collecting frogs, adding the handwritten ribbons and giving them to chemo patients.

FROG = Fully Rely On God

On the 6th I was back in the ER, sat in the waiting room for 5 hours. Finally got out of there about 2:00 in the morning.

June 17th was my 6th and final round of chemo. That evening /early morning, I got so sick and started throwing up. I threw up so hard I pee’d on the bed, down myself, and on the floor… I saw blood in the trash can and thought I was throwing up blood, turned out to be my nose that was bleeding (remember, I’m on blood thinners)… I also broke blood vessels in my eye. So then I had to clean myself up, clean the floor, and change my bed. What a horrible night!

June 30th I had a Nuclear Stress Test on my heart to see if there was any damage done… still trying to find out why I was so short of breath, also had swelling and pressure in my chest area. Tests came back fine… my heart was good. I was put on Hydrochlorothiazide and Furosamide (water pill/lasik) for the swelling, also given Potassium pills.

July 1st I had a PET scan. July 8th I saw my oncologist for the results and follow-up. I was informed that I “appeared” to be in remission. The mass in my lymph node had decreased significantly, although still slightly swollen in size... but that is normal because the node had been stretched very big for a long period of time, sometimes it never goes back to normal size. The lumps in my arm had also disappeared. I was set up to have a PET scan in three months time (Oct), by then it would give us a better idea. That was also my last day at work, I was laid off.

July 12th I had my PICC line removed and had a Doppler (?) to check my blood clots. They were smaller but still there. Had to remain on the crapping blood thinners that make me swell horribly. July 26th I had a D’dimer (?) On July 28th I found out my unemployment was being held up because of a mistake/miscommunication with the staffing company I worked for. I talked with the company the next day and it was cleared up, but it took until September 7th for the unemployment agency to correct it and release my payments.

Cat Doors Galore

My dad, bless his heart, got two pieces of plexiglass and glued them together to put a cat door in so they could have an exit out my bedroom window.  I didn't want to use a piece of wood and block my whole window.

He also cut a hole in my bedroom door for me so I could put one in so I didn't have to play doorman for my cats... now I can sleep with my door closed.

And check this out... finally tolerating each other. The gray one is my mom's cat, Apollo (we tend to call him Pillow most the time); the black & white is my Simon.

CH-Ch-Ch-Changes!

December 17th & 18th I moved in with mom & dad... have to sell my house.  Actually for two reasons now...

1. Because I'm not earning quite what I used to before I was laid off from my last job and I was scrimping then.
2. To be shared soon... a recent situation I've decided to blog through.

Been trying to adjust to my new living quarters... my cats are trying to adjust too, they're not used to anyone but me being around.  They're skittish around other people... skittish is putting it mildly.  They usually beat it out the cat door if anyone came to the door... or if they heard a vehicle pull in the driveway.

Simon is doing remarkably well, seems to be asserting himself with the "natives" (mom's cats).  There have been a few squabbles.  Missy is still pretty much hiding in my room, mostly under the covers.

Well, got to get to bed... one more day and then it's a three-day weekend!

Welcome To My World... I'm In Hell!

I came home tonight... it was about 9 pm.  I opened the door to an oven. It was like walking into Hades.  The thermostat needle was buried, I couldn't even see it.  I checked the thermometer in my bedroom/office and it said 96 degrees.

This is now week 4 since I started having problems with my central air conditioning.  Still haven't figured out what the problem is... although we think we may have found the answer, hopefully.  It's a part he had to special order, he expedited the order and is supposed to be in around 10 am tomorrow.  I need prayers... lots and lots of prayers... that this is it.  It's supposed to stay in the 90's all the way through Sunday!

It doesn't blow very cold, it freezes up, I turn it off to thaw, after it runs so long it only blows 'just barely cool' air so it isn't sufficient in cooling the house down very much.  So I've developed a strategy.  Although Missy and I SUFFER through the day, I wait until about 7 or 8 pm when the outside temp starts coming down, then I open the windows and put the box fans in.  This brings the temp inside down to the low 80's, it takes a few hours.  Then after midnight when the temp is more manageable, I close up the windows and put the air on.  That way it has a better chance of cooling it off a little bit to the upper 70's.

Here's some pics of the unit frozen up.

Slightly Frozen

(see that piece in the middle... that's the doo-hickey)

Major Freezing... look how thick the ice is!

These are the filters.

At first he thought it was a piece in the outside unit that was recalled or something because it wasn't working right... the part would be replaced free, but the work to get to it and make the new piece fit wouldn't be.  It was expected to run about $500.00.  So before he went to that extreme he wanted to try a few things first... which meant dragging this hell out further than anticipated.  I don't know all the technical stuff, but this part he changed out first was what allows the freon to run through to where it's supposed to.  Mine looked pretty rough and he wasn't getting good pressure readings, so it looked like it could be the culprit.  NOT!

Then he was going to try replacing the motherboard, then a doo-hickey on the inside unit that regulates the freon in there.  That was last week.  By Friday I was trying to get hold of him to tell him to do both, I can't take dragging this out any longer.  I had a feeling it was the inside doo-hickey and wanted that replaced first.  Well when he showed up this morning he tells me that he thinks it's that doo-hickey thing too and he talked to his dad (whom he took over the business from) and his dad feels pretty sure it's the doo-hickey thing too.  That's the part he just expedited... it's a $100 part.

So I'm saying a prayer and keeping my fingers crossed!  Besides, I'm tired of eating cereal all the time 'cause it's too hot in here to cook.

Here's Missy trying to stay as cool as possible.  I've been worried about her in this heat.  She's got all that fur.  I've got the ceiling fans on high and I've pointed a box fan towards her sleeping spot on the desk.

Her sprawl cracks me up.  There's a ceiling fan right above her.

Here's a pic of some weeds I picked... they were cute weeds.  Looked like tiny mini-daisies.

Here's Missy on the file cabinet.

And here I have the fan over her sleeping spot on the desk.

Here's the flower arrangement I did to replace the pretty weeds.

Missy's Chair

I've posted Missy in her chair a few times... it's always been HER spot.

UNTIL NOW...!  (uh oh)

Simon has lost his 'fear' of the chair and has decided it is quite comfy.

Then along comes Missy expecting to settle down into HER chair.

She was not too pleased with what she found!

Then later, after she got HER chair back... Simon comes back from a trip outside to find his seat had been 'stolen' back.  Regardless, he tries to also settle in.  Really cute!

Aren't they just adorable?!

My Latest "Gift"

It was delivered Friday evening...

Trying to catch and release it was such a joy!  I don't know what it is with Missy and her bugs, frogs, lizards, and snakes.  At least Simon brings me the fuzzy and furry "normal" gifts expected from cats.

I love my cats... I love my cats... I love my cats.

They're lucky I love them!!!

Missy & The New(t)est Gift

Missy sleeping in her chair.  She is spoiled.

The other day I was working on my computer.  Then, after a quick trip to the bathroom, I come back to both of my cats crouched down below my chair.  Instantly piquing my curiosity... you can tell when your furry friends have got something.  I turned on the overhead light for better inspection.  This is what I found...

I grabbed a papertowel, picked it up, went out the back door, and trotted off to the wooded area out back where I let it go.

When I went back to my computer I discovered something else...

Oh, good Lord!

It's missing tail... and it was moving!  It was twitching and curling.  Pretty freaky!  Especially when I was trying to pick it up.

Come to think of it... I just took the garbage out because something was stinking up the kitchen.  I couldn't remember putting anything in it that would make such an awful smell... until just now!

Later in the evening I was doing laundry.  I was trying to fold this comforter to put away and Missy was trying to crawl on it as I was trying to fold it.  So I laid it down where she promptly settled for a snooze.

Mom's Visit

Mom came for a visit today... I believe this is the first visit when she has come without a reason, a "just stopping by" visit...  we had a nice lengthy visit.

Yesterday I spent the day mowing and weed-eating the yard.  It was soooo HOT!  I drank a whole pitcher of ice tea and a bottle of gatorade... without having to stop for a bathroom break... I sweated it all out.  I was so tired by the end of the day, I barely had enough energy to take my clothes off and get into the shower.  And, oh man... I was feeling it today!  I was gimpin' around all day.  It hurt to get up, it hurt to walk, and it hurt to sit down.  *LOL*

Saturday night Missy was on the deck chasing bugs... which she would bring in.  She brought a june bug in and then her and Simon chased it around the kitchen floor like an air hockey puck.

Winter Storm

This is what it was like about 4 days ago... Missy and Simon sharing a chair on the deck.

THEN...

We had a nice little winter storm blow through last night and today.  When I got up I went out and measured the accumulation... 7" at my house.  Missy tried to go out and landed in snow about as tall as her.  Talk about an about face and back through her door.  *LOL*  Simon didn't even bother to make an attempt.  I took some pics... through my windows.

My Back Deck

The Main Road (Hwy 96)

Birdfeeders In Backyard

My Car In The Driveway

My Street (and neighbors house)

You can barely see some tracks on the road.

My Front Steps

The Subdivision Entrance From Hwy 96

Missy checking things out from her new found vantage point.

Simon decided to spend the day napping on his chair.

And a side note... It was one year ago that I got laid off, January 30th, 2009 was my last day of work.  I'm still looking... still applying... still waiting!