Day + 88 "Another Hospital Stay"
A picture of Jasper & I in hospital 
watching "Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada" Leafs vs. 
Flames.......Jessie laying on a pillow between two chairs.
It was so cool to be able to have my dogs visit me in the hospital. Sue had brought them over to Point Pleasant Park for a walk & then stopped into visit me for a bit. We were worried about leaving the dogs in the truck too long, as they were soaking wet from the rain & had not had any supper.........so when Sue was getting ready to leave....my nurse "Carmen" over heard our conversation & told us that dogs were allowed up to visit their owners on this floor. Some dogs have even stayed over night & the nurses take them out to use the bathroom! All my nurse had to do was notify security. Well......since my blood work was good enough.....we couldn't resist this opportunity!! Jasper was so excited & pulled Sue down the hall.....Sue asked her to find me & incredibily she knew when she was at my room.....she stopped at my open door .....looked at my nurse & then burst in the room when she saw me.... it was such a thrill to have them here with me! I never thought this would ever happen....
Sue may bring them over again tonight....as it is quieter at night & not too much of a disruption.
So you are probably wondering why I am in hospital....
basically, on Tuesday my esophogus pain became quite intense.....I could no longer swallow food & could barely swallow liquid. I went to my radiation treatments for the day & then filled a prescription of magic mouth wash that was supposed to help numb my mouth & esophogus (feeding tube) prior to meals......well, it did not do it for me....so I couldn't eat anything that night. On Wed. morning, I vomited when I tried to drink. I went to my radiation treatment & then asked for something stronger.......while I was waiting to see a nurse, I started to feel sick.....so I told them I had to go home & I would deal with it in the afternoon. So I went for my radiation treatment at 3pm. & waited to see Dr. Wilke. I was still feeling lousy, so they found a room for me to lay down. Anyway, Dr. Wilke prescribed some liquid codeine, some antifungal, liquid tylenol, liquid motrin & some other stuff for me to try that night.
Mom decided to stay with me over night to help, as I was feeling lousy.
To make a long story short I couldn't keep anything down.....& it took two efforts for me to keep down the gastrafin liquid that I needed for the CT scan I was having the next day. I vomited several times in the night & then when we checked my temperature Thursday morning, I had a fever. I decided it was best for me to go the the hospital early to have my blood work done, then I went for my CT at 10am. and then finished my 25th & final radiation at 11:30am. After that, I knew I would be seeing Dr. Wilke & we could decide what to do about my temp. & my intense pain that was creating my eating problem. Obviously, he felt it was best for me to be in hospital. I have been through a bunch of tests & we are waiting to find out if I have an infection. Meanwhile, I have been getting antibiotics, fluids & now food through my IV. I have also been on Pantiloc to help with heartburn. I have brokedown & used Morphine for the first time in my life to help with the intense pain in my chest......it has been a blessing. Now that my fever has broke, I have stopped my tylenol & cut back on some other medications. I still need the nutrients through my IV, because I am still have a tough time keeping liquid food in my stomach. That is the main concern now!
Dr. Wilke told me that my CT Scan on Thurs. showed that my tumour was smaller & that the rest of my body was clear. So that was encouraging news. As I mentioned in earlier entries, the radiation will continue to work for approx. 60 days after my treatments were done. So, in theory, my tumour will be smaller in December when I go for my next PET/CT Scan.
So that is all for now.....I will update you once things improve.
watching "Saturday's Hockey Night in Canada" Leafs vs. 
Flames.......Jessie laying on a pillow between two chairs.It was so cool to be able to have my dogs visit me in the hospital. Sue had brought them over to Point Pleasant Park for a walk & then stopped into visit me for a bit. We were worried about leaving the dogs in the truck too long, as they were soaking wet from the rain & had not had any supper.........so when Sue was getting ready to leave....my nurse "Carmen" over heard our conversation & told us that dogs were allowed up to visit their owners on this floor. Some dogs have even stayed over night & the nurses take them out to use the bathroom! All my nurse had to do was notify security. Well......since my blood work was good enough.....we couldn't resist this opportunity!! Jasper was so excited & pulled Sue down the hall.....Sue asked her to find me & incredibily she knew when she was at my room.....she stopped at my open door .....looked at my nurse & then burst in the room when she saw me.... it was such a thrill to have them here with me! I never thought this would ever happen....
Sue may bring them over again tonight....as it is quieter at night & not too much of a disruption.
So you are probably wondering why I am in hospital....
basically, on Tuesday my esophogus pain became quite intense.....I could no longer swallow food & could barely swallow liquid. I went to my radiation treatments for the day & then filled a prescription of magic mouth wash that was supposed to help numb my mouth & esophogus (feeding tube) prior to meals......well, it did not do it for me....so I couldn't eat anything that night. On Wed. morning, I vomited when I tried to drink. I went to my radiation treatment & then asked for something stronger.......while I was waiting to see a nurse, I started to feel sick.....so I told them I had to go home & I would deal with it in the afternoon. So I went for my radiation treatment at 3pm. & waited to see Dr. Wilke. I was still feeling lousy, so they found a room for me to lay down. Anyway, Dr. Wilke prescribed some liquid codeine, some antifungal, liquid tylenol, liquid motrin & some other stuff for me to try that night.
Mom decided to stay with me over night to help, as I was feeling lousy.
To make a long story short I couldn't keep anything down.....& it took two efforts for me to keep down the gastrafin liquid that I needed for the CT scan I was having the next day. I vomited several times in the night & then when we checked my temperature Thursday morning, I had a fever. I decided it was best for me to go the the hospital early to have my blood work done, then I went for my CT at 10am. and then finished my 25th & final radiation at 11:30am. After that, I knew I would be seeing Dr. Wilke & we could decide what to do about my temp. & my intense pain that was creating my eating problem. Obviously, he felt it was best for me to be in hospital. I have been through a bunch of tests & we are waiting to find out if I have an infection. Meanwhile, I have been getting antibiotics, fluids & now food through my IV. I have also been on Pantiloc to help with heartburn. I have brokedown & used Morphine for the first time in my life to help with the intense pain in my chest......it has been a blessing. Now that my fever has broke, I have stopped my tylenol & cut back on some other medications. I still need the nutrients through my IV, because I am still have a tough time keeping liquid food in my stomach. That is the main concern now!
Dr. Wilke told me that my CT Scan on Thurs. showed that my tumour was smaller & that the rest of my body was clear. So that was encouraging news. As I mentioned in earlier entries, the radiation will continue to work for approx. 60 days after my treatments were done. So, in theory, my tumour will be smaller in December when I go for my next PET/CT Scan.
So that is all for now.....I will update you once things improve.
posted by Angie | 8:49 pm
12 Comments:
Oh Man, I can't beleive I missed Jasper and Jesse. If I had been there Jasper would have been out of her mind. Hope you are feeling better today. Love Coleen
I can't beleive I missed the dogs. That would have been lots of fun. If Jasper had seen me, then you she would have gone crazy. Hope you are feeling better today. Love you, Coleen
OK - I will never again complain of indigestion. Yours has to be the worst case of heartburn I've heard of. Big congratulations on the end of RT. It sounds like it pretty much sucked - and now you're done. Yay! Let the healing commence. You gotta love pets! They're so uncomplicated. It's all about the love! We should all be so lucky! I hope you're feeling better soon from the radiation. I know you've got loads of good vibes happening, but I'm still sending more. -Rhonda
Oh man, Angie! :( I'm so sorry you had to go through this. It's got to be mucositis, don't you think?? It's frequently caused by radiation (not just the transplant high dose.) Check out this link for more info: http://www.oncolink.com/coping/article.cfm?c=5&s=66&ss=165&id=965
Did you experience this at all during your transplant? I am told that because of my esophageal strictures, I will almost certainly have some severe mucositis in my esophagus, that it should last around 5 days, and that all they can do is manage the pain -- so morphine will be my new best friend!
You and I do seem to be travelling similar paths; I spent 7 1/2 hours in the emergency room Friday night as a result of a piece of stuck chicken! See aforementioned esophageal strictures -- the Kepovance they'd given me last week to prevent the mucositis which would result from what would have been last week's chemo before it got pushed to this week ended up causing my throat to swell, which worsened my already bad swallowing problems.
Gotta say, I totally LOVE that you got to have Jasper and Jesse in there with you!! Man, that's the best! I was just saying to Lorraine tonight that I wished so much that I could take Louie in with me! I am going to miss him so much when I'm away. (And my favorite cat, Simone, who I've had for 11 years now -- for so long it was just the 2 of us.)
Anyway, I'm glad you're in there where they can help you. Good call on getting help -- mucositis can lead to infection, which obviously is not a good thing, so I'm really glad that you're being looked after and can have the pain managed.
I swear, I don't know which one is the white dog, but I don't think I could bring myself to remove my lips from his/her big beautiful head!
Big hugs -- heal well!!
Ok, back with a correction: I just looked again at those photos, and that inability to stop kissing the big, beautiful doggy head applies equally. They are equally irresistable, and I would be equally paralyzed by love and a need to kiss them within an inch of their lives.
Serious.
Ok, believe it or not, I'm back. If you checked out that mucositis link I provided, there's a reference to a drug called "palifermin," the man-made KGF which helps to reduce the severity of mucositis; that's the drug my doc had me get intravenously for 3 days last week in preparation for the chemo which was postponed when they found I was fighting a little bug. I won't get it before high dose this week, but I will on Days 0-3.
I hope you feel better soon!
Horray for finishing the radiation series! I liked your "pacman" visual of the rads chomping up the tumor cells.
Sorry about your esophagus and the pain. I hope you get to go home soon, but until then enjoy your visits with Jasper and Jessie (and all your 2-legged friends as well, of course).
Jeannie
Hi Angie Sounds like hell and back. Glad the dogs were there to see you. Must have made you feel a little better. I know it would for me. They have that affect. Hope this is over soon and you're back home feeling well before your birthday next month. Sandy
This is a little note to Sarah--
Hey, Sarah, I don't even know you, except I've been reading your comments to Angie over the last few months. I just want to say good luck to you, too. I don't think I realized last June that you were having your own cancer challenges.
This internet-caring-community is a pretty good thing. Over the months I've read your supportive, marvelously written comments. I'm glad that you, Angie, and probably other people that I don't know, have access to this new way of sharing and caring about each other.
Jeannie
Hi Angie,
Sue M. told us you were back in hospital so we were aware of that before your lastest blog entry. Keep up the fight, we were both so glad to hear that the dogs were allowed to visit. Animals can help so much with the healing process. Hope to see you back home soon.
With love, D and L
Aw, Jeannie, thank you!! I really, really appreciate it! At this writing I'm on the evening of Day -5 of 8 total before my transplant. I'm hanging in there -- so far, so good. (For all the excrutiatingly boring details, you can visit my blog at http://journeytobabeland.blogspot.com -- or just click on my name and follow the prompts.
At any rate, I appreciate your kind words and am still rooting for Angie!
Hope you're hanging in there, Angiegirll! Post soon for worriers, ok? Oh, ok....that would be me. ;)
Angie, I just read your comment on my blog....you poor sweetheart! :( I'm so sorry to hear one, that you're still in the hospital, and two, that it really is mucositis. My docs expect that I'll have a big problem with it myself because of my esophageal strictures, and that we'll just manage the pain for what should amount to about 5 days. If they're right, then I'll get a morphine pump to self-dose (it will have a basal feed for the first couple of weeks and I can give myself extra hits as needed, and then the basal feed will be removed and I'll just control it myself until my need for it tapers off and I'm ok without it.) They say a drug called dilaudid is a good time and completely covers the pain with less less extraneous stuff than the morphine. I'm sorry you have to go through this, I really am. I think in your case it's got to be a cumulative effect; not only did you go right into rads pretty much right after your transplant (which causes mucusitis on its own) but then you had radiation twice a day in what amounted to pretty major radiation!! You were totally set up, Angie! I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but try to remember that this is temporary -- this too shall pass.
My transplant mantra is this: The way out is through. Somehow those words make me feel stronger and more resolute.
I'm rooting for you for a smooth exit on Monday! You and Sue, and Jaspar and Jesse, DESERVE it!
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