Medical Update,fallout of doing the right thing and why cat sitting is fun...

Its 5: 27 pm

   Its the coldest day of the year so far....zero degrees and a wind chill of -15. Pretty much says it all...its damn cold and we aren't expecting a warm up until next week.

 After a promising start to the 5th chemo,it has taken a fast nose dive. Lori is pretty weak and can't keep anything down this week. We are scheduled for a hydration therapy this Thursday but that can't come fast enough. Despite sleeping for the past 2 days she still has little or no energy and she came home early yesterday because she was feeling so crappy.
  Really just trying to grind this through but I have to be honest,its really rugged now...seeing her in so much discomfort and so scared is a heavy load to handle...just have to keep putting one step in front of the other,one day at a time.
We still managed to get out and go a couple of places,to the local Macy's to exchange a pair of slippers I received on Christmas,return a towel we bought that was just too thin for our tastes and use a 10.00 coupon that Macy's sent us.
   I was trying to get Lori to use the coupon on a new ice scream scoop she has been looking for a while now...


But it turned out she ended up getting me another sweater I really don't need except it was on such a good sale that even I had to admit it was too good to pass up.



The clerk at Macy's was a real saint,she took care of our towel return as well despite that her department was Men's. Normally they want you to return to the department you made your purchases at but with Lori not feeling her best,she went ahead and did the return herself.
  Next we ventured to Randazzo's where we picked up a fresh fruits and veggies plus a couple of pantry items. We decided some homemade soup was just what the doctor ordered so that is what we did. Randazzo's was packed,we have never seen the place so busy and we have shopping there for over 4 years now.



We even had to wait in a line that was 8 to 10 people deep which was actually sorta cool. Most of the cashiers are very fast and so we were through before you knew it.
I unloaded the veggies and pointed the car towards the grocery store where they had a nice sale going on. Picked up a few items and then Lori's energy meter hit empty and we went home.

Once there I got Lori on the couch,warm and comfortable while I unloaded the car and put away the stuff we had gathered. I opened the box of the new heater that her dad has thoughtfully bought us,we had returned the small heater we had tried from one place that didn't really work very well and went ahead and bought a Eden Pure heater.


Talk about a nice heater! This is what we needed for the cold nights in our family room. Once on,this heater can really get a room quite cozy very quickly.Between this heater and the Mary Tyler Moore DVDs that my brother got her for Christmas,it really has help keep her morale up. That is such a key this for a cancer patient,as a caretaker,you have to keep your chin up at all times when you're around a loved one who is sick...if you show any weakness,discouragement or gloom,you can really affect the mood of the patient in a negative way.

   Thank you so much for the kind comments from the last post,Renee,your words meant so much to me. I hope that your daughter wakes up one day and realizes just how lucky she is to have you as a momma. To stand behind her while she battles her drug addiction and mental health issues takes a lot of courage as well. I only pray that you don't let this consume your life,there is a limit on how far you should go before you put yourself in danger. Keep your chin up,both you and your husband!

So the first step of Obama's healthcare reform hit today.



  My job told me today that after next week,no part-time worker will be allowed to work more then 25 hours a week.We won't be allowed to trade for a full shift with a full-time employee. Now mind you,my company prides itself on taking care of its employees. It prides itself on its "core values" and the fact that if we can drive sales,we get a share of the profits twice a year. It values loyalty and honesty.
  But all that was swept away today,they have completely stabbed us in the back and using healthcare reform as the knife. Its complete bullshit what companies are doing,instead of blaming the President of trying to bring affordable healthcare to the American people that the drug,insurance and medical industries refused to do,the companies should practice the free market system themselves....to shop around and see who have the best and most affordable coverage for their employees. Image if a company of 200,000 workers suddenly told Blue Cross or Humana that they were pulling out because their fees were too high and they were taking their business elsewhere,just how fast they would they react to offer the same price? Or if an insurance company told a hospital system that they were no longer covering any patients going there because they think a CT test that cost 12,000 is a obscene amount of money,that the hospital would think twice about its pricing?
  The facts are this,no one is going to willingly stop making money no matter the moral cost,as long as its legal,what doctor,drug maker,insurance company is going to lower costs?
Yes,I am impacted by this reform but I'm not blaming Obama....the pure greed of the healthcare system is beyond appalling and it needs to be checked. For companies not willing to admit that and punish their own employees ...we just took our step towards being a Wal-Mart nation which encourages its workers through low wages,no benefits and hostile work environments to make the social safety net stretch even more.
  Its going to turn this nation into the land of the part-time worker...


   I got to cat sit again last Saturday as our neighbor had a birthday and a funeral to go to. So her cat Crash and I got to chill for a while. We had got him a new food bowl for Christmas as his as was too small and he was scooping the catfood on the floor. Seems that the new bowl is a hit with nary a piece of cat food on the floor...we checked out the new basement layout Marlene had laid out for her son and while I emptied the litter box,Crash meowed and attacked his scratch pad with gusto.
  While I feel I should pay her for letting me cat sit,she disagrees and tonight she dropped off two Slurpees


despite the fact its zero degrees out here!! Talk about a good neighbor!

Caught Scorpion's newest blog and this time he was asking his readers for their Bucket Lists of 2013,as in which celebrity will kick the bucket in 2013. The landslide winner was Lindsay Lohan (I also added the NHL and Lady Gaga's career but those were disqualified...prompting me to attack Ural from India)
George Bush the First was also a popular choice being he has been so ill as of late....but Satan might be pushing for a delay while he still building that special wing for Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. I think George might eek it out til 2014....




I finally got my newest "8 Questions with....." interview back and hopefully I'll be posting that next week....I think it will be a great read and will help kick start me into sending my questions to singer Cat Beach.


Alright,that is all I have for now....


Kerri- thanks!!!!!!
Scorpion - I maybe should have listed the Red Wings on my list
Adrian C- Holy crow! If the Niners win,will you get a Super Bowl Ring??
Jill- thanks for the posting tip....hope it works!
Cliff- Thanks for starting the new group....and I already see you had to put in conduct rules. Not so easy is it? *LOL*

Of Medical Update,Hostess and fun at Busch's Supermarket

Its 7:20 pm on Thursday

   Its a chilly night here in SE Michigan...its around 40 degrees and feels like winter except just like last year,there really has been no real weather to speak of. We had one day of decent rain and last Saturday we spotted our first snowflakes,which I could count on two hands.

  First off,my biggest fear about undergoing a second round of chemo is coming true. This has been far worse then what Lori went through the first time around. And we are meeting new "friends" that we hadn't met before.
   Monday saw us at the local UM infusion clinic for the first time. This is where we went for the last 5 treatments in the first go around and with a little luck,this will be the last go around. She checked in at 9:30 for labs and I joined her at 10:15 am in time for the chemo treatment. The room was pretty full and our favorite nurse Mel (Melanie) was able to not only steer Lori into her section but also place her by the bathroom. This is nice because at having so much liquids pumped into a person,a close bathroom is a must!
   The treatment went by nice and slow,Lori slept once she got her heated blanket and I continued to try and slog through my Martha Grimes mystery novel.
  But I had to work at 4 pm so I had to leave at 2:30pm in order to get ready,Mel said that Lori would be home at 3 pm....3 pm arrives and still no Lori. I knew she had one more I.V. drip to go and maybe they were running a little behind but I had to leave for work so I did.
During my break I was able to call home and Lori was there...she was upset because she had a bad reaction to the chemo. Simply put,she didn't a good breakfast and the chemo upset her stomach so much that she had to vomit. Her blood pressure also spiked high and after slowing the I.V. down,she was able to finish the treatment and get home at 5:30 pm!! Needless to say,I was pretty worried at first but Mel explained that a chemo patient has to eat a good meal before coming in. The clinic has muffins/bagels but those are mostly for the caretakers and not the patients.
  I wrote in a earlier entry about how we ended up at Oakwood Hospital because of a unrinary tract infection. Well Lori shared that with Dr. Johnston,including the mucus discharge. Dr. J said that was actually normal and not to worry too much,some things just have to be allowed to run their course.
 But this week Lori had a hard time in the bathroom,cancer patients often has this problem,this is why they are given stool softeners . This happened the first time as well. but despite going through this doesn't make it any easier.
  To help her system out,she also took Mulax...which opened her up in a big way. Good news,yes? Not all of a sudden that discharge is now looking like her poo. This was very alarming and once again we call the UM and explain was going on. Now we know....its called a "fistula in ano". Basically its a fissure between the rectum and the vagina. It causes fecal matter to come out both the rectum and vagina. Her radiation had weakened the area there and add the constipation,it caused the fistula.
  We will be getting a MRI scheduled where as they'll shoot a dye to track the fissure and schedule a small surgery to try and fix this problem.
  The condition is very painful as it totally irritates the tissue around the vagina. To help out,I had to install a new portable showerhead to help keep the area clean.
  Today has been very quiet,we were going to try and set up Christmas today but she has been too weak,she has almost no energy to speak of. The good news (I know,about time,right?) has been that the Nulasta shot aftereffects have been much better then last time because of a tip Mel gave us....to take a Benedryl BEFORE the shot. This has really helped as far as the pain goes but as far as the energy go....its just not happening.
   I brought down our two little trees only to find that one of the leg stands is AWOL. I have to tell you,this has not been my favorite week! Got one tree plugged in but will have to wait til tomorrow to see if she has enough steam to decorate,otherwise,I will have her direct me. Lord have mercy!

  Saturday saw us doing some Christmas shopping,Macy's was having a 1 day sale and since we had some great coupons,we went there first. The little Westland Mall was booming and that included Macy's. People were everywhere and they were really shopping hard! Its been a while since we have really seen this kind of activity,there were lines at every register!
   We shopped for Lori's folks,her aunt Emma and neice Carol. We also shopped for our neighbor Marlene as we got her a killer chafing dish for great price. We ate lunch at the Lakeshore and noticed that the gourmet foods were also on sale for 50%. As we were looking the clerk said that certain items were off 70% as well...as in a bag of 11.00 coffee was on sale for 5.50 and then take ANOTHER 70% off that plus our coupon....we got 4 bags of great coffee for a buck a bag! Also picked up some Maurice salad dressing and some honey glaze for 3.00 a jar...just an incredible bargain to find. Very grateful to the clerk for sharing the sale with us. When cash is tight its cool to be able to get some great deals,especially at a place like Macy's!
  But the Force was still strong with us (thanks to fellow cancer fighter and Jedi Master Sean!). We saw that a local supermarket chain called Busch's was having a good sale on meat and we need some items for the deep freezer. We stopped at the Livonia store....but was told it was the Plymouth store who was having the sale as they had remodeled the store and were having a re-grand opening. That store was only 10 minutes away and so we headed there.
  Just like the mall,the store was packed with shoppers. Busch's had done it up right with some great deals,sample tables and drawings for huge gift baskets. They had plenty of staff to help guests and everyone was very cheerful. We poked around and got some items and met Norton the Penguin who walking around handing out popsicles.
  We filled out a card apiece for the many baskets there offered as prizes and then headed up to the check-out line. As we did so,a man grabbed my shoulder and said "Stay here,I'm going to give away a pasta strainer pot and you'll have a chance to win. But I need a big crowd." So hey,what the hell,right?
  Soon he had gathered a nice crowd and grabbed a box. He said he was going to write a number between 1-25 on the box and whoever guessed it first would win...I told Lori to guess 12 and I would guess 25....not only Christmas numbers but also Lori's momma's birthday. We then started yelling out numbers....and the man pointed at Lori and 3 other people who had shouted "12".
  He then said he was going to do a tie breaker by writing a number between 1-10. Now while I didn't SEE him write the number,I could see by how his hand moved what he wrote and I yelled "3".
And that was that.....we had won the pasta strainer bowl!.
  We walked outside and saw the first snowflake of the season....and then we headed home.
Sunday morning...I was at work when Busch's called the house...Lori had won one of the gift baskets! How cool was that?
 
Its 2:00 pm on Friday

   Lori is feeling a little better compared to yesterday but is still feeling very crappy. I set up our little Christmas tree and brought up the decrorations . And that is the extent of what I'm allowed to do..she enjoys fixing up the house by herself. Don't know how much energy she'll have but I know she'll give it her all.
  Yesterday was a complete washout for us...I insisted she rest and take it easy. I don't know how she thinks she will be able to go to work feeling like this and having to deal with the fistula-in-ano.
I canceled the trip we were hoping to make to Eastern Market in Detroit,just feel that would be really pushing the limits of her health as of now.
Am going to try and get out to a movie tonight....but again,just not quite sure if that is a good idea or not.
 
Just read that Hostess and their union can't agree to a new deal and that Hostess will be forced to shutdown. Wow....once again the union workers are showing just how stupid and clueless they are. Instead of taking a pay cut,they rather lose thier whole damn company. So now 18,000 workers are going to lose everything in the middle of the holidays and winter. I can't wait til they try and find another job...good luck with that,especially now in this new underemployed normal we are being forced to adjust to. The old days of striking and forcing companies to increase pay and benefits are long gone and if these 18,000 haven't been paying attention to what has been going on....they're going to find out the hard way.
   That said....we picked up a couple of Ding Dongs for the freezer....

Well,that is all I have time for,need to head to the bank and pick up some plumber's tape. Hope whoever dropped by and read this has a great day and leaves a comment or three. Its nice signing in and seeing that someone did take the time to do so.

peace!

Medical update and becoming a Ace

Its 1:38 pm


  Wow......President Obama has won a 2nd term despite a strong effort by Mittens Romney. But that is just a sideshow as to what has been happening as of late.

I hadn't have much of a chance to blog lately....been trying to work as much as I can and my hours have been all over the map. Between that,dashing to Ann Arbor and the Oakwood ER,it feels like Superstorm Sandy landed in my own damn house.

  Medical update.

      The 2nd round of chemo is so much rougher then before. We are both tired and run down. Last Saturday saw Lori develop a 100.4 fever that landed her in the E.R. at Oakwood. For those of you who have been following this story,you KNOW just how much I love Oakwood.
  We got there at 10:30 pm....and left at 1:30 am. Turns out she had a nasty urinary tract infection which also happened to her the first go round as well. This is because her immune system is being flattened by the chemotherapy. It makes any illness a serious matter,which is why you see cancer/chemotherapy patients wear masks,especially in the hospital itself.



After seeing Dr. Weaver for the 3rd time,we went by the local CVS store and fill her medications that she had to have. We got home at 2 am and went straight to bed. Made it through Sunday okay and then on Monday we had our regular appointment with Dr. Johnston in Ann Arbor. Did our blood draw first,then had to kill an hour before our appointment.
  The waiting room was pretty busy,I had brought along a British mystery novel written by Martha Grimes...



Tried to get into it but just didn't have it in me. Lori was dozing in her chair when she suddenly had to use the restroom. She came back and said she saw blood in her urine.
 Sort of didn't surprise me,UTI cases often has blood,its because the urethra is inflamed and irritated. I just encouraged her to wait before seeing Dr. J before going to the restroom again so they could get a good sample.
   Finally they called her back....for her vitals. I tried again to get into my book when I saw a shadow fall across my lap. I looked up and saw Terry,one of our nurses from the infusion clinic near our house. Terry is a supervisor and Mel is Lori's favorite chemo nurse. We really bonded with them last year during Lori's first round. In fact,we had seen both ladies at the first infusion just 2 weeks ago. Terry was there filling in for a nurse who is expecting and Mel was rotating through the main hospital on Mondays for a while.
  Lori and I made both ladies coupon books as a way of saying "thank you" for their kindness.
I stood up and Terry gave me a big hug....Lori said while she was getting vitals,Terry popped up and sat on her lap....she explained Lori was "one of my patients" at the infusion clinic.
   We made some small talk and then Lori got called in and I waited outside.
Turns out everything is fine (as well as can be expected for a cancer patient). The UTI is being treated gently,no real string antibiotics because that would produce our old pal C-Dif and we don't want that!
 She had a mucus discharge that is also a good sign and the blood in the urine is also normal. I was told to have her keep pushing the liquids.

So we'll keep on  doing that as much as we can. That night Lori said she started seeing her hair starting to fall out now. This too was expected so we placed a call to her hairdresser,a delightful lady named Donna,who will take care of Lori's hair. We had to dust off the wig again and come next week,she'll be wearing that again.
  We both had a good cry....we really wish we had more friends. Lori was very upset because when she was first told she had cancer,suddenly all of these folks she had rarely heard from suddenly popped up. It was nice getting the cards and calls but when she went into remission,that all stopped.
  We have hosted many people in our house...but rarely do we ever get a invite back. Its a real mystery as to why that happens...I only know that we bust our asses getting ready for our guests and make sure they are  fed a excellent meal and have a good discussion about just about anything.
   It really upsets her,especially around the holidays...
I was thinking about inviting 2-3 of my co-workers over for a "orphan's dinner" for Thanksgiving but I don't really know them that well as to be comfortable with that idea.

   Derek becomes a "ace".

So last Thursday morning I get up for work at 5 am. I stumbled out of bed,got my clothes ready and headed for the bathroom. I turned on the heat light as its softer,Lori was still sleeping. As I came back into the bedroom,I heard Derek make a ruffling noise. Ruffling is catspeak for "I love you". I glanced down and there it was,a dead mouse on the top of the stairs,this is where Derek sleeps during the night....unless he is killing mice.
  
Derek got his first two kills in Northville.....then 2 more a couple of years ago when our neighbors had a bad mouse infestation problem. In fact,he killed those 2 a mere 10 minutes apart.
And now this...his fifth kill.
   The term "ace" comes from from World War I when a pilot shot down 5 enemy planes,he was a called a "Ace". Its requires great skill and daring to become a ace and despite being 13 years old and a strictly indoor cat,Derek still has lightening fast reflexes.


 
Doesn't look different then a Me-109 does it?

   
Lori had to work yesterday so I waited for her at home...we always vote together at our polling place. I had watched the news and heard about the crazy long lines in Detroit. People lined up around the block waiting for their chance to vote. The local branch manager at Chase Bank said he had to wait about 40 minutes but it went it by fast.
   So when 5:30 pm came,I was a bit worried.




If the lines were really that long,we might have to chance coming back because we can't risk standing outside
with Lori undergoing chemo. We decided to take a chance and brave it. We got there at 5:30....and left at 5:50 pm with  our "I voted" sticker proudly displayed on our sweaters.



We had no real lines to speak of and the process went smooth as silk in our town!

Well that is it for me.....

Thanks for stopping by and I'll and throw something up tomorrow as well!



- Denise in Texas,we're praying for you! Such an amazing spirit!
- Joan,DJ and I are proud of you on the new job!
- Theodore,thanks for having a open mind.
-To everyone who actually reads this blog and leaves a comment---THANK YOU!

Medical Update: It's back....

Its 8:51 am

 Talk about a chilly morning! Its in the 40s again and the house is pretty cold already. Too cold in fact and I'm wondering if we have a leak somewhere upstairs. I actually have turned on the heat and that never happens until we have snow on the ground and we're a long way from that!


    So Lori had three days off and I had a favorable schedule as well so we were able to have time together.
Or so we thought.....cause she ended up working most of her Saturday,she is training 4 new people this week and she wanted to clean her office. What started as a two hour job turned into five as she didn't realize just how messy it was considering how little time she actually spends in there. I puttered around the house doing chores like laundry and the dishes as well as paying some bills.
  We were able to have a quick dinner then I had to go to work at my job,I closed so I didn't get home until 10:45 pm.
    Sunday we both had off.....and it was a cold chilly day. We decided we would go down to Bellevue and check out the Civil War re-enactment at a local park. We grabbed our chairs,dressed warmly and headed out. We turned onto a service drive that turned out to be a much bigger road that we had never been on before. We thought we would see signs pointing to the event as we were using our GPS and somehow thought it had sent us in a wild goose chase. Because yes,the GPS does do that once in a while!
  The service drive did lead us to the park which was tucked away between a couple of small hotels. We drove down into the park and saw a large group of folks....which was a reunion of some sorts and not what we were looking for. We drove on and same the tents that were set up. We came to the admission table we paid our 3 bucks apiece and talked to the gentleman there.
   As we did we saw that there were four tents set up....yes,you read that right....four tents.



The ticket taker said that their event was in its first year and that happened to be on a weekend of a much larger state wide event. So while they had President Lincoln in attendance,the turnout was very small compared to the day before and that weather didn't help much.
  We still went in,why not,right? We are the car and walked over to hear a minstrel and his lovely assistant singing songs of the Civil War era,another older woman was churning butter.


*This wasn't the singer....just wanted to give you an idea of what he was dressed like. Actually he was dressed in half a Union uniform and half in Civil War street clothes and he was about 60-65 years old.


The gentleman who dressed as Lincoln was spot on....he looked JUST like him! It was a little uncanny to tell you the truth. His wife was there in dress as well and she looked elegant as well.
 When we were buying tickets we asked if they were going to do any battle re-enactments....the gentleman was honest in saying that he didn't think so.....and he would be right as there were only 3 soldiers! Now I think you're getting where I going with this....there were ten people dressed up TOTAL for this event! But to their credit and to ours as well,we stuck it out there as a light rain began to fall.
  The soldiers were all dressed in Union/Federal uniforms and had erected their tents. They patiently answered all the questions and even drilled a small troop of about 6 boys and show them what boot camp would have been like back in the day.

   The big talk was about Gettyburg's 150th anniversary coming up and how they are expecting about 30,000-40,000 Civil War buffs to attend. They had 35,000 for the 135th anniversary and were able to completely re-enact Pickett's Charge. I can't even imagine what kind of emotions that would evoke...to see how those brave men were shot to pieces on the field,almost to overwhelming to think about.

   We stayed for about 45 minutes before heading out as it had started raining harder and even the actors were talking about leaving.
   We went back out and turned left and discovered the back side of Bellevue that we never knew was there.
It was nicely built up and we drove through it commenting how nice it was and that it helped explain why the old downtown had so many empty buildings. Which actually is a shame since old downtown is very charming but the parking isn't very shopper friendly.
   We dropped by The Lunch Box,a small deli that has been open less then a year..in fact they were working on their remodeling when we walked in. We each had a coney dog and a ice water. The owner was a very nice young man who had bought the shop when it was a BBQ joint and switched the menu. The problem he'll face is the same one that has caused 3 other eateries to fail,he is in "old downtown" and is about 3 south of where he really needs to be. But he has energy and good food so maybe a good of mouth will help him make it.





After lunch we did our marketing for the week and came home. Enjoyed a log fire and while watching TV before we hit the hay. I had to open at my job and Lori had to head down to get her results.
The day went by slowly at first but then we got busy at the store and before you know it,my time was up. Now normally I don't rush off the floor,I mean if my relief wants to drag their feet,that is fine by me. But not this day and I told him to step it up....I had a celebration to attend to.
   Drove home and saw Lori was indeed home...and knew something was wrong when she didn't greet me at the door. I walked in and asked "When is our removal date"?
   She was sitting on the couch and said "There isn't one.....the cancer is back". So there you have it....the motherfucker is back...in two spots. The bad news is its in two new areas,including a patch by her bladder. Dr. Johnston is laying out a new chemotherapy plan and it looks like Lori will be losing her hair again. We also will be seeing a whole new battery of doctors because of the location of the new cancer. But there is sorta good news in the fact that the original areas are totally cancer free. The treatment worked there but of course that doesn't explain why or how this new growth got triggered.
   I admit it this time....I'm very scared this go-round. This is our worst nightmare because we had battled so hard this past year and a half just to make it through this and here we have to saddle up and do it again. Needless to say our spirits are very saddened and I hope my Inner Circle will rally around us again....and please pray for my wife.
   We should be hearing from Dr. J tomorrow after the tumor board has its meeting tonight (Wednesday) and we'll get a better idea of what we are facing. We do know that the chemotherapy will be different this time as the doctors don't like to use the same treatments back to back. We also don't know if we'll be facing radiation again as well.  I'll be writing about what will happen as soon as I know.

Well there it is.....



Derek Jeter turned 13 this month.

Tom and Denise - You two rock so much!
Phillip- God really blessed me with the best brother anyone could have hoped for.
Amy Lange- Happy birthday!



New "8 Questions with...." coming soon.