Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Sandi Update

Last Friday we went to see Sandi’s cancer doctor for her checkup visit after round one of the chemo and to have blood work done so they could see where she was on that. The blood work came back really good as all the things they look at remained where they were before this started. Quite honestly, I don’t understand what all the numbers mean beyond the bottom line that her kidneys are functioning like they should be and her immune system has not cratered yet.  

She put on a happy face for the doctor and didn’t really tell him in detail how bad off she had been all week. I certainly did tell him because somebody had to do it.  Nothing she is going through with the pain, the flu like symptoms, chills, fatigue and exhaustion, etc. surprised him as this is just what it is going to be like for the next several months. Pretty sobering when they say that all that is only going to get worse as the chemo continues. I am supposed to imagine things for a living as a writer and the idea she will be worse than I already have seen is pretty damn scary. He was surprised that she not only still had her hair but that she had been able to make much of anything with her craft stuff as that usually does not happen. Especially considering how sick she was in the hospital.

LATE TUESDAY UPDATE-----Huge clumps of hair started coming out of her head late last night. She knew it was going to happen but it still hit her pretty hard.

After having yet another x-ray of her chest because he can still hear no breath sounds in the right lung, we scheduled her next round of chemo for next week. Unfortunately, he will be gone and one of the other doctors in the practice will monitor her next week. I’m sure the doctor working is fine, but we have a real connection building with her doctor and I hate to see him gone for the week.

So, with that in front of us and things like the rent as we are a very long way away from having that as you can see from the donation widget, the worsening car issues, and all the rest, Sandi has been working on her iOffer site while she still can still sit up to do what she could when she could the last couple of days.  Sandi added some new items and also drastically lowered prices on everything in a desperate attempt to generate some cash flow.  The link to her store is  http://www.ioffer.com/users/sanditipple and she has holiday as well as everyday items like quilts, baby blankets, stuffed animals, etc. She is still taking special orders but with the understanding they may take longer to fill than normal.

Sandi asked me to pass along again her thanks for all the prayers and notes of support. She, as am I, are very grateful. 


Kevin

2 comments:

Marilyn Meredith a.k.a. F. M. Meredith said...

Right now I can't help you monetarily, but I will continue praying. This has to be so difficult. Give Sandi my love and let her know I have our church prayer list praying for her and your circumstances.

Kevin R. Tipple said...

Thank you, Marilyn. I'm convinced, as is Sandi, that the prayers help....