We brought Jody home on April 22. She was recovering from her second trip to the hospital (see "Third Week" post). During the week of April 25, she began to prepare for Linda ( Linda Both is her best friend who lives in Idaho) to come visit. On Tuesday she over exerted herself and strained a muscle in her back. By Wednesday or Thursday she was struggling to get out of bed. I was concerned, but I knew she had an appointment with her primary Doctor on Wednesday. He noticed she was in pain and decided to do a scan to see if it had to do with her kidneys. The scan showed nothing was wrong and gave her more pain medicine and recommended bed rest. On Thursday she was due for her weekly CBC ( see earlier posts) and an INR to check her blood viscosity since she was now on coumadin. Her INR indicated she was not where it should be to keep her blood thinned correctly and her Creatin (Kidney function) had gone up. Doctor Faragher told her to stop one of her medicines and increase the coumadin (blood thinner). No big deal... Right!
On Friday she was still struggling, but as everyone knows her, she continued to get ready for Linda and even went for a pedicure and a hair cut. During this adventure she again struggled just to get home. Upon arriving home she went straight to bed. I attempted to get her to eat, which she would have nothing to do with food. I then began to encourage her to go to the hospital ( she refused). By Saturday morning it was getting worse and I began to insist she go to the hospital, but she insisted on staying home and working through the pain. She wanted me to continue with my Census job. I called almost every hour to see what she was doing.
I finally was off the Census clock and returned home to find her in bed, in pain. I told her we were going to the hospital and she again insisted she would be find by the morning. Latter that day I had to turn in my Census payroll for my workers. She also wanted to pick up some place mats and shirts she had purchased at Macy's last Sunday and had put into layaway because of a sale. I told her she had to go with me on the errands or pack her bags for the hospital. She decided to go with me and insisted she would be fine by Sunday morning.
Sunday morning I awoke early and went down to the kitchen for breakfast. I heard her get up and she came down and sat at the table and eat some cereal. I noticed her color was very light. She told me she was going back upstairs to bed. I heard her start up the stairs, when I heard a strange sound or moaning. I ran to the stairs and coming around the corner looking up the stairs I saw her knees begin to buckle. She looked around at me and I ran to her, stabilizing her I continued to help her up the stairs and into bed. I told her to begin to get ready we were going to the hospital. She insisted she was not going. I left and went to my office and called 911.
Returning to her I told her the paramedics were on the way and she should start dressing or she was going to the hospital in her night gown. About that time the three paramedics and four firemen were standing in our bedroom. She realized I was serious. After a nice conversation with me (!@#$#%) she complied with the paramedics and off we went.
This now brings everyone up to week five... we are still at the hospital and Linda is here to help.
I will try to write more this weekend.
Love you all!
Jody's Garden
"No Worries"................. On a Sunset Cruise off Na Pali.................. "You can click on the picture for a tour of what we saw and the fun we had..............." (If you are new to my blog, I post the most recent news or event first (or on top). If you are trying to catch up, you may want to start with my older posts first by clicking on the "Blog Archive" and choosing a title)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Third Week
I MUST apologize to everyone... I have been very busy and as a result, I am behind on my posts. I will be trying to get everyone caught up with the next couple of posts. Sorry!
Upon returning from our California trip, Jody began complaining her calves felt very tight. We have been used to some swelling in her legs due to her blood disease, but she felt this might be different. She also felt she was close to another Transplant because she was getting winded.
She had a CBC (Complete, Blood Chemistry) scheduled for Monday, April 12. This was also my first day of Census training (I accepted a part time position to be a 2010 Census worker and was chosen to be a Crew Leader.) My training was supposed to be 8-5 Monday through Friday and if you missed one day they released you from the job. Jody decide to drive herself to Rocky Mountain Cancer for a routine CBC visit. She mentioned to a nurse that she felt her calves were tight and she felt winded (out of breath). The nurse looked at her legs and after getting the CBC results consulted with Dr. Faragher (her hematologist doctor). Dr Faragher examined her legs and told her to go immediately to the emergency room of the hospital across the street.
After a CAT scan it was determined she had blood clot in both of her legs and one of her lungs. Needless to say they admitted her. The blood clots are a side effect of the chemo drug she is taking. They hooked her up with an IV giving her a Heparin blood thinner drip thinning her blood down and begin dissolving her clots. As Jody's luck would have it by Wednesday April 14 she developed pneumonia, so they had to setup a second port to begin giving her a high dose of antibiotics. For those who know Jody, she does not like needles and this was firing her up. They were testing her blood 2-3 times a day, at one point they were running out of places to get blood from.
The Issue... Now you need to remember I had just started my training and I could not miss a day... Got the picture... On the first day I was calling her getting updates constantly every 15 minute break we were given. Finally, I got to her bedside that night, where we caught up on all that was going on and ate dinner together. For the next 10, yes I said TEN days my routine was getting up at 5 AM, dress, grab coffee and be at the hospital by 7 AM, travel to my training site by 8 AM, back to hospital around 6 PM, eat dinner with her, visit, watch TV, spending time together, drive home arriving around 10 PM, drop into bed and get up the next day and do the same thing. Believe me I had it better than what Jody was going through.
By Wednesday, April 21 she was released to come home. BUT before I go there during our hospital visit we received GREAT news. Our Bone Marrow doctor was able to find a donor, YES a 10 out of 10 donor...
I completed my class room training and began my preparation to train my team of census takers. I was able to bring her home by around noon. She was still struggling from the pneumonia and the clots take at least 6-8 weeks to dissolve. She was put on Coumadin to keep her blood thinned, and several other drugs to maintain her high blood pressure and continue to fight the pneumonia. We counted it up... around 34 pills a day give or take 5, but who's counting once you get that high. Like a trooper she takes her pills and looks forward to the day.
OK, now since I am into the 4th week I will end this posts. Remember after each post there is a place for you to leave a comment. Jody loves to hear from everyone and she does look at my posts. So feel free to write remembering that everyone can see your comments. Several of you have been calling and you can not believe how much it means to her. When I come home the first thing she tells me is who called and how great it is to have all her friends. I know she loves it and I can not thank you enough. I love you all!
Please join as a "FOLLOWER" so I can alert you each time there is a new post.
Upon returning from our California trip, Jody began complaining her calves felt very tight. We have been used to some swelling in her legs due to her blood disease, but she felt this might be different. She also felt she was close to another Transplant because she was getting winded.
She had a CBC (Complete, Blood Chemistry) scheduled for Monday, April 12. This was also my first day of Census training (I accepted a part time position to be a 2010 Census worker and was chosen to be a Crew Leader.) My training was supposed to be 8-5 Monday through Friday and if you missed one day they released you from the job. Jody decide to drive herself to Rocky Mountain Cancer for a routine CBC visit. She mentioned to a nurse that she felt her calves were tight and she felt winded (out of breath). The nurse looked at her legs and after getting the CBC results consulted with Dr. Faragher (her hematologist doctor). Dr Faragher examined her legs and told her to go immediately to the emergency room of the hospital across the street.
After a CAT scan it was determined she had blood clot in both of her legs and one of her lungs. Needless to say they admitted her. The blood clots are a side effect of the chemo drug she is taking. They hooked her up with an IV giving her a Heparin blood thinner drip thinning her blood down and begin dissolving her clots. As Jody's luck would have it by Wednesday April 14 she developed pneumonia, so they had to setup a second port to begin giving her a high dose of antibiotics. For those who know Jody, she does not like needles and this was firing her up. They were testing her blood 2-3 times a day, at one point they were running out of places to get blood from.
The Issue... Now you need to remember I had just started my training and I could not miss a day... Got the picture... On the first day I was calling her getting updates constantly every 15 minute break we were given. Finally, I got to her bedside that night, where we caught up on all that was going on and ate dinner together. For the next 10, yes I said TEN days my routine was getting up at 5 AM, dress, grab coffee and be at the hospital by 7 AM, travel to my training site by 8 AM, back to hospital around 6 PM, eat dinner with her, visit, watch TV, spending time together, drive home arriving around 10 PM, drop into bed and get up the next day and do the same thing. Believe me I had it better than what Jody was going through.
By Wednesday, April 21 she was released to come home. BUT before I go there during our hospital visit we received GREAT news. Our Bone Marrow doctor was able to find a donor, YES a 10 out of 10 donor...
I completed my class room training and began my preparation to train my team of census takers. I was able to bring her home by around noon. She was still struggling from the pneumonia and the clots take at least 6-8 weeks to dissolve. She was put on Coumadin to keep her blood thinned, and several other drugs to maintain her high blood pressure and continue to fight the pneumonia. We counted it up... around 34 pills a day give or take 5, but who's counting once you get that high. Like a trooper she takes her pills and looks forward to the day.
OK, now since I am into the 4th week I will end this posts. Remember after each post there is a place for you to leave a comment. Jody loves to hear from everyone and she does look at my posts. So feel free to write remembering that everyone can see your comments. Several of you have been calling and you can not believe how much it means to her. When I come home the first thing she tells me is who called and how great it is to have all her friends. I know she loves it and I can not thank you enough. I love you all!
Please join as a "FOLLOWER" so I can alert you each time there is a new post.
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