Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The insomnia is gone!

I saw 2:30 (am), 3:30 and 4:00, but now I'm back to normal! We got our Direct TV, and I never got sick, so I'm quite content right now.
I thought I would update everyone since I was getting lots of phone calls (as to how I was). Not sick yet! They make some pretty good anti-nausea meds out there! I'm feeling somewhat of an aversion to food. I still have an appetite, but nothing sounds/tastes good. Still have hair (I'm patiently waiting to not have to shave underarms/legs for a while!) I have to get some more lymph fluid removed tomorrow. It still likes to accumulate underneath my missing breast (no where else to go?!) Hopefully this will not remain a weekly occurrence. I've been told my white blood cells will bottom out this wknd (I get out of trick or treating!!), so no being near ppl. Everyone here seems to be sick, too, so I think we may just do our own neighborhood (small), then come home to  pass out stuff. I have to go in on TH. to get my blood count done.
My in-laws are coming this wknd - they are gonna take the kids to some Halloween events. That's about it! Everyone have a fun Halloween wknd!  Here is a fun Halloween video to watch:
http://ak.imgag.com/imgag/ product/preview/flash/ bws8Shell.swf?ihost=http://ak. imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/ product/full/el/&cardNum=/ product/full/ap/3125133/ graphic1

Friday, October 22, 2010

My only Chemo side effect so far is:

Insomnia - it's 4am. And, we are switching from Dish to Direct TV so my husband turned off Dish 2 days ago, but of course that's not when Direct TV came, so we've had no TV for 2 days! No GMA! That's OK, I'll wait (patiently) for the Direct because they have local on the 8's. (Those of you who know me well will know what this is - the rest of you will just have to figure it out!) Anyways, the Dr. said if I wasn't sick after 24 hours I prob. wouldn't be. I heard there was a correlation with not getting sick being pregnant (which I wasn't) and not feeling as bad with chemo. We will see.............
Well, other than feeling fine yesterday, I had 2 bad things happen. The first one was kind of funny - it was a "You don't f--k with Darci after she just had her first Chemo treatment!
1)  I went to Meijers to by a butterball turkey. (They were 1/2 off, i had a 1.00 coupon and there is a 5.00 rebate!) I go through the self check out, and the price comes up as the normal price. The staff guy said they were supposed to be labeled "Tom" turkey's and not "Young turkey's" So I turn around, root through the turkey's and find a bunch of others that are labeled "Young Turkey's" with the sale price on them. So I bring one back up to him, and he changes his tactic. Now he states that the birds on sale are supposed to be 16-20 lb's average (in between 16 and 20 lb's). I wanted to tell him "Obviously you didn't go to college ~ and neither did the guy who wrote this ad ~" just because it says average does not mean it is the average of those two #'S, which he seemed to think was the rule, So I had to turn around again, go back and root through the turkeys some more to find the smallest one. ASS! So what did I do the minute I got in the car? Called and spoke with the manager, (who has also had cancer), explained that this guy was a pulling a stubborn man thing, and he needed an attitude adjustment! The manager agreed, and said his attitude would be very adjusted by the end of the day. And to top it off, he is giving me a gift card to cover the turkey. See, bitching is good (can be, I should say)
2)  Babysitter from down the street canceled today, for tomorrow. James will be out of town tomorrow. She made other plans because she didn't know about my port? (But then didn't tell/ask me until yesterday at 4:30?)

Port #2 is doing well - I got a WOMAN Dr. this time and she knew what she was doing! I also met with my surgeon - who id from GR, and is very nice and considerate. Last week I went to a "Look Good Feel Better" class through ACS and got over 200.00 of free makeup, and a makeup lesson! I told them "good, now I can throw away all of my makeup that's been sitting around for 15 years!"

I mentioned this last time, but my friend Laurie is organizing meals for me, the days after my chemo treatments. It's a cool calendar set up, and if you can't bring food on a friday, I think you can just check on whatever day you want to bring it! Also, for those of you who aren't in TC but want to help, you can send a gift cert for a local restaurant or pizza place, and just mark off a day on the calendar. Here is the site: VolunteerSpot — Doing Good Just Got Easier! Laurie is also collecting old mag's for me to go through during treatment (or anyone can just drop them at my door too - 842 Cobalt St) I also like little baby bottles of things - shampoo's, lotions, perfumes, so if ya'll want to clean out your bathroom drawers and pass them on, they'd be appreciated! I'm going to make a collage now on my new "blood cell count treatment book" that I got at chemo yesterday! Love, peace and all of that, Darci


ps - Pic's of Elena with her tomatoes...........

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Surgeon update............

Ok, I take my words back, the surgeon I am going to see (today) IS the surgeon who would not come in to the ER to see me. This is for a couple of reasons; 1) a nurse at my Dr's office called the other group of surgeons here in TC and they refused to see me too (amazing, isn't it?), due to the fact that I had a consult with one of their surgeons in the beginning and didn't hire him because he was an ASS. 2) So, my husband, as pissed off as I was, called Dr. Kam (the one who refused to come in), explained the situation, and now I have an appt. today. It was all a "misunderstanding". Don't ya love it?

I ended up going in to the hospital to have my lymph fluid removed from my chest (I would've had to go down to GR, but my surgeon in GR was out of town this week!). They removed almost 100 cc's of fluid, (about 3 1/2 oz., so I wasn't off by much). And I'm glad I have an appt. with a surgeon today because there is already more collecting............

Now the port issue. The nice Radiologist who removed my fluid the other day said the port incision didn't look like it was ready to be cut into again yet, so we rescheduled for next Monday, which is fine with me because if I did it this week, the Dr. who tore it out of me would've been the one to reinstall it (NOT!) We'll see what the surgeon has to say about that too. I guess the issue is that I'm so skinny (funny) in my chest area that there is no fat to surround the port (making it sit on a nerve.) We'll see about that on Monday.

One last thing, a friend who I used to be in a book club with (and who also married my husband's friend's (from Esky) brother) offered to help bring meals, etc., so if anyone wants to help in any way, call or email her (Laurie Hebert), 231-633-0736 or: lauriejhebert@yahoo.com. Thank you, Laurie - YOU ROCK! Peace, D

OOPS - almost forgot, we used our free meal at the Cooks House for our anniversary dinner last night, it was SO GOOD! Everything was local, down to the honey that came with my cheese plate! Thanks Eric!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Friends..........

You know you have good friends when they send you stuff like this:


 LOL Hey look what I found for you on craiglist.....   If you dress this guy up as a doctor, it could work.


Love to you ;)
Shari


Boxing equipment, punching bag man - $96 (traverse city)




Punching bag man, lightly used (costs $300+ new) and a pair of boxing gloves (like new). The man is silicone and has 4 adjustable heights. AMAZING DEAL!!!!


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image 2000332401-1

Sunday, October 10, 2010

You know you (are me) and having a bad day when:

Your chest has about 4 oz. of lymph fluid collecting in it, so you 1) call Dr. in GR, she tells you to go to ER. 2) Talk to neighbor, who says go to walk in clinic, 3) Call nurse navigator here, who also said go to ER. I called walk in clinic, they said they didn't do that there. I then go to the ER, they get me in a room, and the Dr. says "We can't do that here!" So he called the on-call surgeon, who REFUSED to come in (due to territorial issues.) Need I remind these ppl that I have CANCER and to get over their passing the buck and territorial issues? Now I have to find a surgeon up here, (obviously NOT the guy who refused to come in to see me) because NO ONE ELSE will remove my lymph fluid. (Or else I have to drive 2 1/2 hours to have my surgeon do a 30 second procedure). I'm getting VERY FRUSTRATED with the medical system up here! Today sucked (except now I'm drinking a beer and am about to make a very good dinner. Then I will finish a good movie, and go to bed with a good book. So my day will end well (smiley face.................). Darci

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

New Chemo date!!

New date is set for two weeks from tomorrow, on Oct. 21. I have been receiving conflicting information from everyone on where to put my port next, but we are going to let this site heal (from the massacre of last weekend), and try it again in the same spot (right). I got nerve pain meds this time, so I am prepared. If that doesn't work, we'll go to the left, and if that doesn't work, we'll to go a catheter in my neck. Everyone please PRAY for no nerve pain this time around!! I (also) had my last drain removed so am doing self massage, etc. so I don't have to deal with a seroma.

My daily life has become less hectic, although now I'm spending my time researching foundations (financial assistance) or researching/calling ppl about ports, getting opinions, etc. So now instead of reading all of the time (cancer college) I'm now on the computer or phone (still cancer college, just a different aspect.) I do have to say that I feel sorry for all of the people who have to go through this who cannot/will not speak up for themselves. I have to be my own advocate, and I have had to be strong willed (ie; calling the doctor, and his nurse saying I had to speak to her, so telling her to get a pen because I want this verbatim! And I DID make her read it back to me! What am I paying him for if he won't even speak to me?) I've also had to say no to some strong willed nurses, which is not fun. Nobody likes a bitchy nurse.

Another thing good that has come of this - when I had friends over in GR, I had some wine, but it took me until the end of the night. I looked at Barb and said "I haven't wanted a cigarette at all tonight!!!" There's a first time for everything. So, I haven't had one in over a month. Yeah for me!

I want to thank a few ppl for  a few things: Jill, who sent me a brand new pair of Teva's - I'm already wearing them(and I will until it snows - JK) Jen Smock in Petoskey who sent me an Amazon gift card, which I'm saving for later, and Sue Porter who I used to work with gave me some awesome Aloe Vera body wash, which I'm also saving for later! The best one this week was a friend from college's mom sent me at least 20 magazine's (and 2 halloween decorations that the kids promptly took over). Thanks Laura's mom - you rock!! (ps - I'm accepting any old magazine's - things to thumb through during the 2 hours it takes to get  chemo). That's about all for now. Peace, love and all of that........... Darci

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The port is now out........

The pain was so intense I made the poor radiology doctor on call come in today. They did an x-ray, unstitched it, said it looked fine. Their fine, to me, was what felt like a pair of pliers twisting my nerve endings under the port. On top of that, as they were removing it they didn't realize that my skin had started to grow around it already. They pulled, I screamed, they jumped, and it took 4 more numbing shots and 5 minutes of the nurse talking me down before i could stop shaking (and bawling.) They said to call back on Monday to talk about putting another port in. I DON"T THINK SO!!
On top of that, due to all of this I canceled my appt. with my surgeon in GR on Monday to remove the last drain, and she said to have someone up here do it. They (up here) said I'm still putting out to much lymph fluid to remove it. My surgeon said if it doesn't come out on Monday there is a huge chance of infection (due to the fact that it's been in there 3 weeks. ) I'm tempted to take the d---n thing out myself.
Until the next time (and hopefully it'll be more positive................) Darci

Friday, October 1, 2010

And I thought the drains were a pain...........

Then I got this d-----n port put in! They told me 2 tylenol would suffice........ 3 vicodin later, I'm still in pain (no, not all at the same time!).
Lots of new stuff to report.
1) A girl I've never met (but who reads my blog) mailed me a gift yesterday. People's generosity still continues to amaze me. On top of that,not only did my friend Carie send me a camera (also from mystery ppl), but a VERY NICE CANON. I still have to figure out how to work it though...........
2) What was thought old blood coming through my drains turns out to be lymph fluid, which really concerns me about the TC Hospital, since 2 nurses and 1 ER doc. told me it was blood. They don't know the difference?! SCARY!! I had a drain removed last Monday (and spent a couple of relaxing days at Barb and Chucks). The only problem is there is still a lot of lymph fluid coming from the 2nd drain (I guess that happens when you remove forty f----g two lymph nodes!) so there is a chance that when we remove the 2nd drain, it will still accumulate in my chest and I'll have to have it aspirated. NICE. Also (just to let you know), nothing stinks more than lymph fluid. I thought cooked beets were bad, now it's lymph fluid. UGGHH....
3) I switched my chemo days to Thursday's (when the kids are in school), so I will start next TH., Oct. 7.
4) My husband will be out of town for my first two chemo treatments. Need I say more?
5) My naturopathic Dr. seems to think I won't need to remove my ovaries in order to take another drug. We'll see. I saw him yesterday, discussed stuff, and he sent me home with lots of herbs. I now have to take 11 pills a day and 45 drops of ackky tasting stuff, to help me with the chemo.
I think that's it. I have to go get an echo somethingorother thing done now. Until next time, Darci (peace out!)