Do Some Damage: A Lover of Crime Fiction

Do Some Damage: A Lover of Crime Fiction: Scott's Note: We have Rick Ollerman visiting this week, talking about an anthology he put together in honor of a guy who meant a lot a...

Cardiologist

By the time this post appears here on the blog, I will be deep in my visit with my cardiologist this morning. Assuming he does not find anything massively wrong, I should be back home later this morning. If you would, keep a good thought for me. I need it.

Things Continue....

Things continue and there is no change for the better. Sandi had her eighth radiation treatment yesterday followed by fluids in infusion. Almost all of the time now she is sleeping. Her pain levels remain very high, even in her sleep, so she moans a lot in her sleep and violently jerks when back spams or stomach spasms hits. Then too there are the chills and shakes during cold spells and other issues.

Monday she has her next round of radiation followed by a visit with the radiation doctor.

Tuesday she has radiation and then we see her main cancer team for blood work and an office visit.

Finally Home

As expected, Sandi had to have two units of blood and a unit of platelets. Her blood numbers were very low today and all were surprised she was not in worse shape. They think that all the other issues I was seeing were due to the blood issues. Since the platelets made her sick Monday night they also gave her a small amount of steroids before they started doing the transfusion.

Tonight she feels a little better and is in a little bit less pain than she has been these past few days. She is awake and alert tonight and is way better than she has been the last two days. She is not right, but she is better, and that is a very good thing.

Doctor Today

By the time this post appears, I will be at the doctor with Sandi. She has not been doing at all well the last couple of days. Not sure what is going on. I am worried that there is a new issue with her. I expect the blood work will tell us she definitely needs more blood. My concern is with another  infection problem as well as a couple of other things. I am pretty sure something is going on.....just don't know what now.

Even if I am wrong about other things, if they do blood, it is going to be a long day there. Will update when I am back home.

Sandi Update

Sandi is now back home after blood work at Texas Oncology that determined she absolutely had to have platelets today. We have been warned to expect to be the hospital into the evening after her doc and lab appointments on Thursday as they expect she will have to have another unit of platelets as well as two units of blood.

Other than that she is doing okay.

Finally Home

Sandi's blood work was okay today so, other than the white blood cell shot, they left her alone.

We go back Monday for blood work. If it is bad, there will have to be blood transfusions.

Whatever happens Monday, we go back Thursday for blood work and a doctor visit. If we get lucky and miss the blood transfusions on Monday, it is also a 100 percent guarantee that we will have to do it Thursday.

In the meantime, everything is relatively stable and she is doing okay.

Chemo Round 3--Finished

Sandi is now home. We go see the doctor tomorrow for an office visit, blood work, and her white blood cell booster shot. Hopefully, there won't be any unpleasant surprises.

Chemo Round 3-- Day 5

We are finally home after running lots of errands and spending time at the hospital with Sandi. Things continue to chug along okay after they had to move her to a different room Sunday evening and the electrical problem. Whatever was wrong that caused the all the lights to lock on has been apparently fixed as they have a new patient in that room.

Sandi continues to get more chemo today. Chemo should finish tomorrow about mid day. Assuming she does not get yet more blood, the current plan is to release her late tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday afternoon we have to be back at the doctor for blood work, an office visit, and one of those shots she hates. The patch you see advertised everywhere on television is not something they use as the delivery is erratic at best. For Sandi and her issues, there is no way she can have it. So, we go in, she has the shot and then for the next 48 hours she gets sick and sleeps a lot.

Chemo Round 3-- Day 3

We are back home from seeing Sandi at the hospital. As you can see, she was sitting up today and was doing okay.

They are again making extra sure that she is getting the correct chemo and in the correct sequence. The guy who caught the disastrous error back at the end of May is once again on her case and checking things. I got to meet him today and tried to express how grateful I was for everything he did for her and his continuing work on her case. I think all I managed to do was super embarrass him. He most likely saved her life and a "thank you" from me does not begin to cover that.

At this point, everything seems to be going okay. She did not get any blood today and as of right now they did not see any reason to do a blood transfusion today. That is a good thing as Sandi is one of those rare folks that a blood transfusion makes her feel way worse than if they had left things alone. The chemo continues as she is on the third bag of the day and that one is a 24 hour one which means it won't finish until around 1 am.

She was going to order a little food to just get something into her when we left and then probably will be out for much of the afternoon.  She is hoping she can be awake for most of the Cowboy game tonight. She was able to see much of the game last night and was not happy that her beloved Ohio State lost to Oklahoma. She has seen some of the hurricane coverage and is very worried about friends and family down in Florida who are in the direct path of Irma this afternoon.

So far, things seem to be as good as they can be during chemo. The doctor again today brought up doing the PET Scan asap once she is through chemo so we now have the impression that they will be trying to get her in for that as early as late next week.

Chemo Round 3---Day 2

Just got home from seeing Sandi at the hospital who was falling asleep due to the meds. She is doing okay at this point. She had a blood transfusion last night followed by her chemo premeds just after midnight and then the chemo started long before dawn.  When we arrived this morning she was sitting up and crocheting.

So far so good at this point. If things run like they did last time, in between the chemo bags, they will be doing multiple blood transfusions over the next several days. But, that is to come. For now, things are as good and stable as they can be.

Home

Back home from the cancer doc. Sandi's blood work shows that most things are somewhat stable though she is low in a couple of areas. Nothing they want to intervene with at this point. The pain she is having as well as the swelling is caused by the cancer doing very bad things. I expected as much. They don't want to waste time on imaging now to figure out what it is doing in her skull.

So, the decision has been made to admit her Friday for the next five day round of chemo. She will, most likely, be admitted sometime mid to late afternoon.

After this next round of chemo, most likely in two to three weeks, they will do another PET Scan to reassess her cancers. Once we have that information, we all will have a better handle on things going forward. And so it goes....

Cancer Doc Today

By the time this post appears, we should be at Texas Oncology at Medical City Dallas Hospital. Sandi is to have blood work and a doctor visit. Hopefully, the blood work will indicate that she can resume chemo sometime next week. If her numbers have not come up significantly, things will continue to be delayed as her body has been having a hard time coming back from the blood infections.

We also have to discuss a new issue with the doctor as the scalp tumors have started hurting Sandi the last 72 hours. They have never caused pain for her. Not even when they were two inches in height and over three inches across. Suddenly, late Sunday afternoon they started bothering her and have been doing so off and on since then. At different times, she has been in significant pain from them the last three days. So much so, she has had to take her pain pills. Sandi absolutely hates taking pain pills and will often just tough out the pain despite the doctors telling her it is okay to take the pills. The fact that she has been taking the pain pills the last three days when they have been really hurting her makes it very clear how much pain she is from them.

If that was not enough, Sandi also has a large area of the back of her head that appears to be swollen. She says it is not tender when I touch it. I can't tell if the area has fluid or what. But, it is clear that the area is swollen.

So, at this point, I don't know what any of this means or how they will  address all of this today. We are again in uncharted territory. My mind imagines the worst and I am very worried. Hopefully, they will  have seen this in other patients and will reassure us quickly.

Finally Home

It was a long day today as the blood work indicated that Sandi needed IV fluids coupled with magnesium to deal with some potential issues.  So, that has been done and we are now finally home.

Her immune system as well as her blood counts indicate she is far too weak to have chemo now. That has been delayed to the end of next week at the absolute earliest and far more likely the follow week at some point.  We go back next Wednesday for another doctor visit and blood work to assess where she is at by then. She is better, but she still has quite a ways to go to recover from the bacterial blood infection. Part of that is finishing the antibiotic cycle early next week.

Cancer Doc Day

By the time this post appears, we should be at Texas Oncology at Medical City Dallas Hospital. Sandi has an appointment for blood work and a visit with the doctor. Assuming no unpleasant surprises with her blood, we should also learn today when they plan to do the next round of in-hospital chemo.

We think that will happen right after Labor Day. But, with the influx of medically critical patients from the Gulf Coast, it is possible her chemo will have to be delayed. They were already having trouble getting patients into the hospital before Hurricane Harvey did what it did on the Texas coast.

Sandi Update 8/19/17

We are now safely home after seeing Sandi at the hospital. She remains on the catheter with the heart telemetry doing its thing and is still off of oxygen. Her mood is pretty good even with the news she was given this morning.

Picture by Scott

They currently plan to remove the port on Monday as it no longer matters if the tests come back saying the port is clean. Even if it is still okay, it will not stay that way. The only question is when it will be come infected. There is no choice at all so it will come out to protect her. They also, as I suspected, can't put anything into her port wise until she is clearly infection free.

That means she will have new iv lines put into her hands and arms each and every single time they have to put something into her. She is not happy, but also understands very well that she does not have any choices right now.

All in all, she is amazingly upbeat about everything and looks pretty good. She has eaten a bit more today, so far, than she has been and that is a good sign. She also has had at least some shrinkage of the sinus tumor as her ears have opened up a little bit. She can actual hear you when you talk to her and she can now hear the television. Being able to participate in the world has helped her tremendously. 

Doctor Day

Finally home as things ran exceptionally long this morning and then we went to the apartment very briefly so that Sandi could see it one final time and know that we got everything. Sandi's blood work was okay, though things are beginning to trail off so by the end of the week she probably will need platelets followed by a major blood transfusion on Monday. Today they also gave her the white blood cell shot they give as she is not a candidate for the patch you see constantly advertised on television.

In addition to the fact that the skull lesions have gone down considerably, while sitting in a waiting room this morning, Sandi realized she could hear the television from the other waiting room. This is the first time she has been able to do that since February. It is also another small sign that this round of chemo definitely did something.

Chemo--Round 2-Day 4

Been to the hospital with Scott to see Sandi and found her very active thanks to steroids. Chemo seems to be going fine. The guy who caught the error last time was sent to her floor specifically to do the audit check on her drug cocktail. He came to her room yesterday afternoon to assure her that all is correct this time. The fact he came and did that meant a lot to her.

As it currently stands, they will be sending her home sometime tomorrow. When is in question right now, though I suspect it will be mid to late afternoon. After that we go back Tuesday morning to see her people in the office and do blood work.

Aditional Update

So, we have additional medical news. Her port--the one she has had for three years or so is infected. So much for locking that down to protect it. Either today or tomorrow they will do a quick surgical procedure and remove it leaving her with only the tri fusion port that went in about a month or so ago. I don't yet know if the fact that the port was infected/contaminated means they now will hold her in there longer or not. She is to get a blood transfusion later today as well which means her numbers are going the wrong way again. How much of that is due to the bacterial blood infection and how much of that is her body still trying to recover from the blood dialysis after the botched chemo six weeks ago or what I do not know. Scott and I have been to the hospital to see her, then to the apartment to load up, and then back here to fight with the washing machine and boxes upon boxes.

Update

They are running the bacterial blood test again and will not have results until sometime late Wednesday. If it comes back negative (clear), they will begin the process of sending her home. That includes training me how to handle her tri fusion port and change antibiotic and other fluid bags as well as lining up home health care aides and nursing support. She will be coming home to what was my Mom's house as we have her bed here and other things including a ton of boxes. This all means that the next round of chemo is delayed and I have no idea when they plan to try again. The first hurdle that has to be crossed is a negative blood test.