Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dehydration evil

So I had my treatment on Monday. Supposedly my last one. It went pretty well. I slept through most of it which is always a good thing. Tuesday, Mom came over to help with the girls and spend the night. I took advantage of the extra help and stayed asleep as much as possible. Normally, this would be a good thing, but I ended up not staying hydrated. In fact, I barely ate or drank anything for two days. So Wednesday afternoon, I got up from a long nap and went downstairs to get a glass of water. As I was filling up the glass I could feel myself blacking out, sort of like a head rush. I made my way to the kitchen table and sat down, then apparently I slumped over and was out. Mom was downstairs doing some laundry and she saw me going down. When I didn't wake up, she called 911. I had spilled the water and she started putting ice on the back of my neck. I roused up and finally came to before the EMT's arrived. I was pretty sure my blood sugar had dropped and I'd had a serious head rush from being asleep so long. But the EMT's suggested I go to the hospital to get checked out since I had never done anything like this before. So off we went . . . in the ambulance. Thank goodness, they did not run the sirens.
At the hospital, they did a test to see if I was dehydrated. They had me lie down flat and took my blood pressure. It was fine. Then they had me sit up and they took it again. Still fine. Then they had me stand up and took it again. I was barely able to stand long enough for them to take it before I got woozy again and really nauseous. When they did get a reading, it was like 60/30. So apparently, I was dehydrated! They ended up giving me 2 liters of fluids and told me I would've kept passing out every time I stood up if I hadn't come in to the ER.
They also did a CAT scan of my head to make sure there was nothing wrong with my brain causing me to lose consciousness. Thankfully, it checked out fine. Seriously, it did!
So I finally got to come home after they did the standing test again and I passed. John came home and was there with me. Jan came over before he could get there. And mom stayed home to get the girls for me. I think I scared her pretty bad. My poor mother . . . what she has to go through with herself and now with me!
Today I'm feeling okay, just typical weakness and naseau from the chemo. This is supposed to be my last treatment, but when I went to see Dr. S last week, he tried to tell me that I would need two more treatments. He explained that the normal course is 6 rounds of every three weeks. Since I began with 2 weekly rounds, they wouldn't count toward the 6. I don't think so! We're going to do a PET scan in a couple of weeks and see where we stand. If it's good, then I get to stop. So I am praying, and praying, and praying! These treatments are getting worse every time. They have a cumulative effect and I hate to think how bad it could get if I had to have any more. Will keep you posted soon!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Not much is new

Not too much new is happening with me . . . we did find a new home for Cisco and so we are down to one dog, Penny. We've been able to keep her inside and it's working out really well. She's a sweetheart!

I made it through the ickies of my last treatment and went back to work this past week. I am fighting a chest cold of some kind and have had a horrible cough the past few days. I had to leave work early on Thursday and then Friday was pretty miserable. But today is Saturday and I plan on resting up this weekend, so I'll be good to go for next week. One more week of work, then one more week off for treatment, then I should be able to start back to normal.

The girls and I have been enjoying this great weather and getting ready for Halloween. So far we have watched Halloweentown I, Halloweentown II, and Halloweentown High . . . AND they are all on DVR so I'm sure we'll be watching them quite a bit more!!! Gotta love the Disney Channel! John is still in NC until December, but we are planning to go up and visit next weekend. We have only been able to go up twice this season, normally we go up every weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing the mountains in the fall, they never fail to impress!

Well, our objective today is to find Halloween costumes . . . if there are any left! Wish us luck!!