Home from Mayo

My parents and I were able to make it back to AZ from MN on Saturday evening. We were a few days later returning home because we had a small bump early on Thursday morning when we were scheduled to come.

A little backtracking...I was told by the nurse in the cancer wing when I was receiving chemo last week that I’m not ‘ordinary’ anymore. What she meant by this was that if I had any infection like symptoms or extended periods of vomiting, the runs etc that I needed to not be shy about making my way to the ER to receive treatment. My body won’t just ‘get over’ things like it has in the past. So we’ve been on a slightly elevated Susan Security Alert (now at level ‘orange’).

We were scheduled to have the pump administering the rest of the chemo removed on Thursday afternoon, and then we’d rush to the airport to make our 5:30 flight home to Arizona. On Thursday morning I woke up at about 4:00am with some pain in my side in the same place like I’d had before, only I couldn’t get comfortable, and I had just had a pain pill. After a few minutes debating whether to wake up my parents, I did and the debate ensued on whether or not this pain was warranting a dreaded trip to the ER. After ½ or so longer of no relief, the decision was made to head in. Luckily for us, the hospital was right across the street, and there was absolutely no wait for me to get in, be seen and get on some stronger pain medication.

A battery of tests were re-ordered, CAT Scan, Chest X-Ray, blood work to rule out that I was having any major complications with my tumor, liver or anything related like we’d been warned about; blood clots these types of things. After initial tests came back negative for any of this I was admitted and transferred over to the larger hospital connected with Mayo where they wanted to keep an eye on me and the pain. My first ride in an ambulance...I wasn’t nearly as coherent as I’d always hoped I would be though L

The doctors in the ER room told my parents that there was a good chance that the pain I was experiencing was actually a ‘good’ thing in that it may be a sign that the chemo was working and doing its job on my liver tumors! Awesome news all though not fun at the moment...

To make the long version of the story short I ended up having to stay in the hospital until Saturday afternoon, so we had obviously missed our scheduled flight home on Thursday. As if this couldn’t get more creative...and she may not like me for telling everyone this...my mom had a flare up of a recurring problem she’s had related to diet and had to be admitted to the ER on Friday evening. Luckily she caught it all in time and had only a short stay, some pain and antibiotic medications prescribed and was able to lay low and rest for Saturday morning while I was being discharged. I have to include it in the update though, because it just shows on a very very very small scale the sacrifices my parents made for me being on this trip. My mom was putting her own well being aside and had this happen, so for Friday night my dad was bouncing back and forth between the hospitals caring for the two women in his life :)

The doctors advised me on discharge to wait a day before trying to fly home, but I was feeling good and didn’t want to risk getting stuck any longer than we had to. So we made the call to jump on a flight home Friday at about 6:00pm. I couldn’t wait to get home and see Justin.

We were quite the sight to be seen traveling through the airport, my dad and his two women in wheelchairs :) The flight was mostly uneventful and we were home!!

A quick update on other happenings...I’m very pleased with how I feel on the chemo. It’s had it’s ups and downs, but ultimately I feel blessed that so far the side effects are minimal for me. This will probably change over the next cycles, so I’m enjoying it now, but I’m mostly just very tired and fatigued. I KNOW that these minimal side effects are due to all your prayers, so thank you all once again!!

We have an appointment with an oncologist at Mayo Scottsdale on August 1st. This week we will be looking into insurance options, if I haven’t already mentioned it Rochester Mayo is a preferred provider on my plan, but Scottsdale is not. Chemo is not cheap obviously, so we’ll be seeing what options are available for future treatments. I’m tentatively scheduled right now to head back to Mayo on the 5th for my second cycle in MN.

Can you believe how far we’ve already come in just 2 weeks time? It’s been a rollercoaster at parts, but I really just feel so blessed by all that has seemed to fall into place, and how smoothly it’s been going over all. I know that God is responsible for this, and I thank you all for your prayers and the asking of blessings for us. Know that it is doing good.

Have a great week!