Hey folks, this is Monika.
Amy is out of surgery. Report from mom is that doctors said everything went really well and they're hanging out in recovery now. She'll be sleeping at home tonight and will probably update you guys herself in the next couple of days when she has some energy.
From me, thanks so much to everyone who has offered so much love and support. In six weeks Amy will be able to start going back to all of her normal activities again, with more natural boobs, and knowing all this is behind her. On to better things :)
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospital. Show all posts
Friday, January 27, 2012
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Surgery Update
Happy to report that Amy is out of surgery, awake but very very tired, on a morphine drip, and hopefully going home tomorrow. Lymph node pathology is clear - miss Amy is cancer free!!!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Must be the Chemotherapy
Hi Team,
This has been an eventful week. Had my chemo a week ago Tuesday so I'm officially almost to my "nadir" or low point of the cycle. That is when my immune system is at it's weakest, the chemo has cycled through my blood stream and the body is killing off all those cancer cells, and just about any other cells that might get in the way. I have definitely been feeling it in a big way this time, but I have to keep reminding myself that is the feeling of the cancer shrinking, and the great part is that I know it's shrinking! I have also had what I have determined as success in keeping active this time around, every day so far after chemo I have walked at least 1.5-2 miles every day. Granted I walk very slowly since I get out of breath just climbing the stairs to my apartment right now, but I do think being active has helped me keep the momentum going and enjoy my days more.
Dad left last Friday early in the morning, and Mom moved back into my little apartment. There is certainly nothing like having your mom take care of you. Our next project, however, once I'm not feeling so sore is going to be to go through all my stuff and donate as much as possible. We've already taken a few bags of clothes to goodwill, but there is nothing like being in your apartment all the time with other people there all the time to make you feel like you have too much STUFF. Way too much!
Saturday Anthony decided to do his own fundraiser for me down in Orange County. He got all our friends down there to chip in for him to wax his chest and back and shave his head! He had a friend get all the supplies and do it in their back yard, and I got to skype in and watch the whole 2 and a half hour ordeal. It was awesome of him to do that for me, I know he's never felt the pain of waxing (welcome to just a taste of what women do for you men!) and it had to be traumatic for that to be his first time. I was really impressed and appreciative once again at the generosity of all our friends to chip in to help me out with my medical expenses too. He actually looks really nice with a shaved head, I don't have a picture yet but will post one of us with our matching haircuts soon.
Yesterday I had got a bit of a scare - got two dizzy spells in the morning where I started feeling dizzy, losing my vision and felt sure I was going to black out, so I laid down on the floor and just tried to breath. Luckily, I did not end up passing out, but as I was resting my blood pressure was down as low as 105/52 where it is normally somewhat high (130's/80's). I was still feeling woozy and lightheaded 45 mins later, so we called the kaiser advice nurse to find out what to do. I really did not want to go to the ER again, but at the same time mom did not want me passing out on her watch. So we called, and of course anytime they hear "chemotherapy patient" they want you to come in immediately because they know you are high risk. Long story short they determined that I was dehydrated. Which is weird because I've been drinking 2-3 liters of water a day, plus little bits of fruit juice, sparking water, soup, etc. So I'm really not sure how exactly I got dehydrated, but they had me on a saline IV in the kaiser medical building for 4 hours yesterday before finally feeling ok to release me. I got another call this morning from the oncology nurse wanting me to possibly come in today to get another liter of water via IV but I convinced her that I was feeling normal and my BP was back to normal today, so unless I feel weird, I don't need to come in. It's just so weird doing everything you possibly can, and believe me, I'm a pretty diligent patient, and still getting dehydrated or just not being able to keep it under control.
So, we have a joke - because if you don't laugh you have to cry - when you have all of this whirling around you, trying to keep track of it all - you just can't explain why/how something happens sometimes, so we say "must be the chemotherapy." Ie. Wow, that was a weird stomach cramp. Huh, must be the chemotherapy. Also, how do you think you got dehydrated? Not sure, must be the chemotherapy.
Love,
Amy
This has been an eventful week. Had my chemo a week ago Tuesday so I'm officially almost to my "nadir" or low point of the cycle. That is when my immune system is at it's weakest, the chemo has cycled through my blood stream and the body is killing off all those cancer cells, and just about any other cells that might get in the way. I have definitely been feeling it in a big way this time, but I have to keep reminding myself that is the feeling of the cancer shrinking, and the great part is that I know it's shrinking! I have also had what I have determined as success in keeping active this time around, every day so far after chemo I have walked at least 1.5-2 miles every day. Granted I walk very slowly since I get out of breath just climbing the stairs to my apartment right now, but I do think being active has helped me keep the momentum going and enjoy my days more.
Dad left last Friday early in the morning, and Mom moved back into my little apartment. There is certainly nothing like having your mom take care of you. Our next project, however, once I'm not feeling so sore is going to be to go through all my stuff and donate as much as possible. We've already taken a few bags of clothes to goodwill, but there is nothing like being in your apartment all the time with other people there all the time to make you feel like you have too much STUFF. Way too much!
Saturday Anthony decided to do his own fundraiser for me down in Orange County. He got all our friends down there to chip in for him to wax his chest and back and shave his head! He had a friend get all the supplies and do it in their back yard, and I got to skype in and watch the whole 2 and a half hour ordeal. It was awesome of him to do that for me, I know he's never felt the pain of waxing (welcome to just a taste of what women do for you men!) and it had to be traumatic for that to be his first time. I was really impressed and appreciative once again at the generosity of all our friends to chip in to help me out with my medical expenses too. He actually looks really nice with a shaved head, I don't have a picture yet but will post one of us with our matching haircuts soon.
Yesterday I had got a bit of a scare - got two dizzy spells in the morning where I started feeling dizzy, losing my vision and felt sure I was going to black out, so I laid down on the floor and just tried to breath. Luckily, I did not end up passing out, but as I was resting my blood pressure was down as low as 105/52 where it is normally somewhat high (130's/80's). I was still feeling woozy and lightheaded 45 mins later, so we called the kaiser advice nurse to find out what to do. I really did not want to go to the ER again, but at the same time mom did not want me passing out on her watch. So we called, and of course anytime they hear "chemotherapy patient" they want you to come in immediately because they know you are high risk. Long story short they determined that I was dehydrated. Which is weird because I've been drinking 2-3 liters of water a day, plus little bits of fruit juice, sparking water, soup, etc. So I'm really not sure how exactly I got dehydrated, but they had me on a saline IV in the kaiser medical building for 4 hours yesterday before finally feeling ok to release me. I got another call this morning from the oncology nurse wanting me to possibly come in today to get another liter of water via IV but I convinced her that I was feeling normal and my BP was back to normal today, so unless I feel weird, I don't need to come in. It's just so weird doing everything you possibly can, and believe me, I'm a pretty diligent patient, and still getting dehydrated or just not being able to keep it under control.
So, we have a joke - because if you don't laugh you have to cry - when you have all of this whirling around you, trying to keep track of it all - you just can't explain why/how something happens sometimes, so we say "must be the chemotherapy." Ie. Wow, that was a weird stomach cramp. Huh, must be the chemotherapy. Also, how do you think you got dehydrated? Not sure, must be the chemotherapy.
Love,
Amy
Friday, April 30, 2010
I win!
Hi Team,
Still in the hospital, but actually have enough energy and time awake to post on here now. Sooo... good news! Today my total white blood cell count was 2000 and my nutrophils were 580! That's right, I hit the major road block to me going home. V. exciting, as I have been really not enjoying spending the week in the hospital. I did have a temperature yesterday morning, but haven't had one since, and if I can just keep that up, I will break out of here tomorrow morning.
I will definitely try to get a port installed before my next chemo, this hospital ordeal with all the blood tests, cultures and iv's has left me with very few places left to draw blood that aren;'t already all stabbed and getting bruised. Also the oncologist on call at the hospital told me the next time I do chemotherapy I will also need to do Neupogen shots, probably for 7 days in a row. This will help increase my white blood cell count ahead of time and hopefully keep me out of the hospital next time. Lets cross our fingers!!
My biggest complaint with hospital-living is mostly that the "nutrition" they provide is clearly for sick-care and not for health care. It took me 3 days just to get them to actually give me meals with no dairy in them (I've been allergic to dairy for 4-5 years now) then they actually hooked up a phone in my room - the dietician says "I've been trying to call you" and I said "Yes I haven't had a phone." so I wont go through our whole conversation because it would be incredibly boring but I kid you not actual choices from the hosptial dietician included fried chicken, a hot dog, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter and jelly on white bread. Seriously lacking some nutritional value. I did get the pb&j though.
Love you all,
Amy
Still in the hospital, but actually have enough energy and time awake to post on here now. Sooo... good news! Today my total white blood cell count was 2000 and my nutrophils were 580! That's right, I hit the major road block to me going home. V. exciting, as I have been really not enjoying spending the week in the hospital. I did have a temperature yesterday morning, but haven't had one since, and if I can just keep that up, I will break out of here tomorrow morning.
I will definitely try to get a port installed before my next chemo, this hospital ordeal with all the blood tests, cultures and iv's has left me with very few places left to draw blood that aren;'t already all stabbed and getting bruised. Also the oncologist on call at the hospital told me the next time I do chemotherapy I will also need to do Neupogen shots, probably for 7 days in a row. This will help increase my white blood cell count ahead of time and hopefully keep me out of the hospital next time. Lets cross our fingers!!
My biggest complaint with hospital-living is mostly that the "nutrition" they provide is clearly for sick-care and not for health care. It took me 3 days just to get them to actually give me meals with no dairy in them (I've been allergic to dairy for 4-5 years now) then they actually hooked up a phone in my room - the dietician says "I've been trying to call you" and I said "Yes I haven't had a phone." so I wont go through our whole conversation because it would be incredibly boring but I kid you not actual choices from the hosptial dietician included fried chicken, a hot dog, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter and jelly on white bread. Seriously lacking some nutritional value. I did get the pb&j though.
Love you all,
Amy
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday Update
Amy's neutrophils are up to 165 (she needs 500 to get out), but she still had a fever today so it'll be a couple of more days at least.
I'm sure she'll have lots of fun stories to tell you about how lovely the food and ambiance has been during her stay.
I'm sure she'll have lots of fun stories to tell you about how lovely the food and ambiance has been during her stay.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
No Flowers
Just a note - if you were thinking of it, don't send Amy any flowers. I got her some yesterday, and the doctor made her take them out of her room.
Looks like she might be in the hospital until Tuesday or so.
~Monika
Looks like she might be in the hospital until Tuesday or so.
~Monika
How She Breaks Out
Monika again, with a quick update:
Amy is doing okay. She still has a fever, so they gave her some stronger antibiotics. Her neutrophils went down a little more yesterday, but her total white blood cell count went up a bit. Given her point in the chemo cycle, it isn't all that strange that the neutrophils were still going down a little.
So right now, we're waiting on two things to get her out of the hospital:
1. Neutrophils must be up to 500 (yesterday under 50)
2. No fever for 48 hours in a row (she had one last night still)
To get her port so that she can get her next chemo, neutrophils must be up to 1,000.
Mostly, she's just really tired. She's also still really sore, but they are giving her percocet every 4 hours, and yesterday they gave her a little morphine, which seemed to work pretty well, too.
Will update again as soon as we hear back on today's counts.
Amy is doing okay. She still has a fever, so they gave her some stronger antibiotics. Her neutrophils went down a little more yesterday, but her total white blood cell count went up a bit. Given her point in the chemo cycle, it isn't all that strange that the neutrophils were still going down a little.
So right now, we're waiting on two things to get her out of the hospital:
1. Neutrophils must be up to 500 (yesterday under 50)
2. No fever for 48 hours in a row (she had one last night still)
To get her port so that she can get her next chemo, neutrophils must be up to 1,000.
Mostly, she's just really tired. She's also still really sore, but they are giving her percocet every 4 hours, and yesterday they gave her a little morphine, which seemed to work pretty well, too.
Will update again as soon as we hear back on today's counts.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday Funday Indeed
Monika here, and this is a long one:
Last night I joined Amy, Anthony, and Lynn for dinner after Amy's acupuncture appointment. Amy was feeling extremely tired so she curled up on the couch while Anthony and I went to get Thai noodle soup for dinner. When we got back, Amy was in bed and Lynn was sterilizing the thermometer.
After a reading of 100.7, Amy removed her heating paid and went to bed for a bit to see if it came down. The rule of chemo is that if the temp goes up to 101, you go to the ER. We were hoping we could wait it out and avoid the magic number. A little while later, though, it was up to 101.7. We waited 20 more minutes, but when it only came down to 101.3, we got ready to head to the hospital.
We made a really good team, I think. Anthony went to bring the car around, Lynn had the thermometer readings memorized and grabbed all the necessary items like phones and medical info, and I got Amy bundled up in her chosen scarf, hat, gloves, and fuzzy socks.
At the ER Amy sat down near a guy who smelled strong of (and offered some) McD's french fries while Lynn got her all checked in. They saw us within 5 minutes and got her suited up with a face mask and all. She'll have to wear one any time she goes to the ER, just to avoid contact with any super sick patients. Then it was back out to the waiting room for a bit. We made a few inappropriate SARS jokes as other patients noticed the face mask, but they pulled us into a private room pretty quickly.
The doctor came in to say he'd need to do a blood test, some cultures, and a urine test, and then we'd have to wait for an hour and a half or so to get results. The wonderful nurse, Holly, reached Amy's vein with no trouble and little pain, and left a catheter in so they wouldn't have to keep poking her. They took more blood than I've ever seen come out of a single person. Something like 4 big culture vials and 2 normal blood test tubes. Crazy amounts.
We entertained Amy as best we could while she waited for results. Rubber gloves can be fun when filled with air. :) We were definitely the party room, breaking the 1 visitor rule and making up stories about what was going on with the other patients who were making odd moans around the ward.
After she told them she was feeling about a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale for her back and muscle aches, they also gave her 2 percocet. The pain meds started to kick in, and Amy was so excited to feel relaxed and not hurting for the first time in a few days. Taking her blood pressure on her left arm where they did the chemo IV still hurt her quite a bit, though.
The doctor finally came in to give us results, but it wasn't happy news for Amy, who was not loving the uncomfortable hospital bed. They needed to admit her because her white blood cell count was too low. The doctor explained it this way:
Amy should have about 12,000 white blood cells, and 40-70% of those should be neutrophils. Amy only had 700 white blood cells (NOT a typo), and 7% of those were neutrophils. That means she only had 49 neutrophils (compared to what she should have being in the range of 5,000-9,000).
Some good explanations online: chemocare.com, Mayo Clinic, Wikipedia
So she has to stay in the hospital until they get her cell counts back up, which will probably mean a couple of days. They are giving her antibiotics to fight any potential infections, and she's doing okay just resting right now. I'll make sure to post again when we have some more updates.
Last night I joined Amy, Anthony, and Lynn for dinner after Amy's acupuncture appointment. Amy was feeling extremely tired so she curled up on the couch while Anthony and I went to get Thai noodle soup for dinner. When we got back, Amy was in bed and Lynn was sterilizing the thermometer.
After a reading of 100.7, Amy removed her heating paid and went to bed for a bit to see if it came down. The rule of chemo is that if the temp goes up to 101, you go to the ER. We were hoping we could wait it out and avoid the magic number. A little while later, though, it was up to 101.7. We waited 20 more minutes, but when it only came down to 101.3, we got ready to head to the hospital.
We made a really good team, I think. Anthony went to bring the car around, Lynn had the thermometer readings memorized and grabbed all the necessary items like phones and medical info, and I got Amy bundled up in her chosen scarf, hat, gloves, and fuzzy socks.
At the ER Amy sat down near a guy who smelled strong of (and offered some) McD's french fries while Lynn got her all checked in. They saw us within 5 minutes and got her suited up with a face mask and all. She'll have to wear one any time she goes to the ER, just to avoid contact with any super sick patients. Then it was back out to the waiting room for a bit. We made a few inappropriate SARS jokes as other patients noticed the face mask, but they pulled us into a private room pretty quickly.
The doctor came in to say he'd need to do a blood test, some cultures, and a urine test, and then we'd have to wait for an hour and a half or so to get results. The wonderful nurse, Holly, reached Amy's vein with no trouble and little pain, and left a catheter in so they wouldn't have to keep poking her. They took more blood than I've ever seen come out of a single person. Something like 4 big culture vials and 2 normal blood test tubes. Crazy amounts.
We entertained Amy as best we could while she waited for results. Rubber gloves can be fun when filled with air. :) We were definitely the party room, breaking the 1 visitor rule and making up stories about what was going on with the other patients who were making odd moans around the ward.
After she told them she was feeling about a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale for her back and muscle aches, they also gave her 2 percocet. The pain meds started to kick in, and Amy was so excited to feel relaxed and not hurting for the first time in a few days. Taking her blood pressure on her left arm where they did the chemo IV still hurt her quite a bit, though.
The doctor finally came in to give us results, but it wasn't happy news for Amy, who was not loving the uncomfortable hospital bed. They needed to admit her because her white blood cell count was too low. The doctor explained it this way:Amy should have about 12,000 white blood cells, and 40-70% of those should be neutrophils. Amy only had 700 white blood cells (NOT a typo), and 7% of those were neutrophils. That means she only had 49 neutrophils (compared to what she should have being in the range of 5,000-9,000).
Some good explanations online: chemocare.com, Mayo Clinic, Wikipedia
So she has to stay in the hospital until they get her cell counts back up, which will probably mean a couple of days. They are giving her antibiotics to fight any potential infections, and she's doing okay just resting right now. I'll make sure to post again when we have some more updates.
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