Sandi Still Hospitalized

Sandi is still in the hospital  and nothing much has changed at all one way or the other. The ecocardigram results are back. According to the cancer doctor, the good news is that it does not show any evidence at all of a blood clot or clots in or around her heart. But, it does show a small change in her heart since the one they did back in late January to see if she was strong enough from a cardiac standpoint to tolerate the stem cell transplant. We don't know what the change in her heart is as the doctor told her repeatedly it was small and "nothing to worry about." Needless to say, neither one of  us particularly reassured about that especially since we don't know what has changed.


About 1:30 or so they took her to radiology and did a CT Scan with contrast. This one today used dye and will be compared with the one without dye they did of her lungs back on Tuesday.  Hopefully it will show that her lungs are clearing though based on what is happening with the oxygen sensor stuff it appears they are not getting better. Those working with her remain convinced this is some type of pneumonia, but without a pathology sample they don't really know.


With a nurse and an aide with her they took her off the oxygen earlier today and had her walk the hall. The floor is shaped in a box pattern so there are four hall segments forming the box with the patient rooms on the outside of the box and the nurses station and other rooms on the inside. Sandi walked one short segment and when they got her to the end of it she was down to 86 on the rolling monitor. They aborted the excursion and returned to her room where she clocked in once seated at 72. Obviously this is not going to work for sending her home unless they send her home on oxygen. One of the nurses told her today that was a real possibility at this point. We don't know how seriously they are considering doing this.


Sandi wants me to pass on that her "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" sale currently underway that she mentioned on her blog earlier in the week will be extended if she needs to stay in the hospital even longer than already planned. For now she says to please feel free to go ahead and order and she will pack and ship once she gets back home. Her blog is at http://lady-sandra.blogspot.com/ or you can just go straight to http://www.sanditipple.ioffer.com/


Sandi wants me to also pass on her thanks for all the prayers, best wishes, thoughts of support that she has been getting all along and especially this last week. It means a lot to all of us and an incredible amount to her. Sandi is a strong believer in faith and positive thoughts and she is convinced this will just be temporary and in the long run a very minor hiccup on her road to recovery. She has every intention of not only beating the cancer, but conquering this latest setback. Even though she is still classified as terminal she is determined she is going to beat this once and fore all. She is an incredibly strong and determined woman and is not about to give up.


We still don't know where we stand with her social security disability case or the rest of it. Everything was supposed to be expedited, but because the first application early in the year was lost, we had to reapply for her and we have yet to receive any paperwork indicating anything. Getting through to a human being that can help, let alone have a clue what is going on, has proved insurmountable so we just don't know. If the cancer does not kill you, dealing with the bureaucracy and the paperwork will.


We just got notification today that we have to reapply for food stamps as our certification apparently ended this month.  The deadline to apply by to receive our food stamps on time next month has already past thanks to things coming late in the mail. Missing the deadline by over a week certainly isn't helpful. Right now we have nothing in the bank with ten days to go to the end of the month and rent being due. Not to mention other bills, many of them medical in nature for one amount or another, piling up on the kitchen table. 


So, I am begging you, if you can please make a donation via the handy dandy widget over to the left. I hate asking, more than you will ever know, but we are truly in a huge bind right now. It is amazing how much insurance does not cover in these deals and how easily they can find a loophole to duck through to not cover what should be covered. Any amount donated is a huge help and goes to pay for our share of her meds, doctor and other medical bills, her monthly insurance premium of $200, the land line phone bill, and what food stamps does not cover such as toilet paper and soap, among other things. None of the monies are wasted and we certainly are not partying with the money.  We certainly aren't faking this nightmare either as a couple of real (insert the profanity of your choice as I am trying to keep it clean) jerks have suggested in the past.

Anything at all helps. It is only because of you that we are still here to ask for your help one more time. We really do appreciate it more than you will ever know.