Obtrusive - Word for the Day -- Sunday, September 7, 2008

Obtrusive
DEFINITION: (adjective) overly prominent.

What an obtrusive storm Gustav became! We were without power early Wednesday until late Friday (36 hours). Son and friend brought us over a generator late Wed afternoon. I told them all I was worried about was "America's Got Talent". Ha... They hooked up the freezer, the refrigerator and yep... the TV... My baby boy does anything for mama...

Through all this, ChemoSabe worked half days and then to clinic. We saw the doctor on Thursday afternoon and he is discharged for a month only. We have about four weeks and then the chemo and second stem cell will begin. We started the bridging medications yesterday. Chemo by mouth, steroids and bacterial prevention. The dose of blood thinner (Lovenox) was increased from 80 to 150 a day. I had pharmacy chores on Friday while he went out of town on business. I made the Outpatient pharmacy, the Infusion Center pharmacy and then our hometown pharmacy.

We were instructed to purchase a blood pressure machine because ChemoSabe will only be doing labs once a week. His blood pressure has always run low for years, but they are not convinced of that. So, I got one and we are doing both our pressure each evening. I learned something about myself with it already. I have a history of migraines, but I only have them now about every six months. I started getting one on Wednesday. It kept trying to creep up until Friday. When we took our pressures on Friday evening mine was sky high. Hmmmm... I wonder why? ha

We were lucky with the storm besides losing power. We had a lot of limbs down and I got them all taken care of in the front yard. I worked all day yesterday with the new rider mower. What an awesome machine. I haven't even started on the back yard. It will be a week long job.

ChemoSabe's counts are well. His CRP was at 35 on Thursday, but they scheduled his port to be removed anyway. We got outta there around 5:30 p.m. I didn't give him any Lovenox on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the possibility of having the port pulled. By Thursday evening his legs were giving him fits. We got up around 3:30 Friday a.m. and I gave him a Lovenox, but on Friday night they were hurting again. Yesterday morning he was still in discomfort. Hurting in the calves was very obtrusive. I made his breakfast. I convinced him he needed to walk around much of the day to keep up the circulation instead of sitting in the recliner. The pain is at night when he is relaxing. Well, he got out in the yard and piddled while I was on the mower. He shoveled a little dirt...and I mean little. About four shovel fulls. He pulled up some weeds and picked up a few limbs. He huffed and puffed a bit. I had helped him put his bike up on the rake and he came up to the garage. He polished and waxed on it. By the end of the day he was feeling a lot better. He got a full night's sleep without having to go downstairs to the recliner.

He slept so good we were able to go to church this morning. And, what a sermon it was. KJ, my boss, is the preacher and he was on a roll today. Afterward we met them for lunch and had an enjoyable rest of the day.

Heard from Roger today and he had his stem cell on Friday. He has been having the hiccups (sound familiar?) and stomach problems, but seems to be doing okay. There are three others that are in our time frame that are having high CRPs. It looks like everyone is right on schedule. Just doesn't seem right that you have to be very, very ill to be normal at this stage. That's protocol.

The steroids are working on ChemoSabe already. He will be a job keeping down this week. He is traveling to Shreveport tomorrow. He has already rescheduled his lab for this week so he can do some work. His appetite has increased and he seems to be enjoying food more the last couple of days. He is having some problem with acid reflux, but I believe that is because of the steroid.

Well, kids... I am going to hit the rack early. I just bathed Parker and Kipper and now I need to take care of Maxie and Pete.

Keep those prayers coming. Especially for our friends still going through the first phase.

Good night and Love --- Pepper