This has been a crazy week. I woke up Sunday morning and was feeling great. I went in to get dressed for church when all of a sudden, the room began to spin. I laid down to rest but the spinning continued. I slept for about 4 more hours but when I awoke, the room was still spinning, even as I laid in bed. After checking my notebook for specific symptoms, Amity called Kaiser. After speaking with the nurse, I went to the emergency room. The doctor ordered a CAT scan, blood work, and gave me an IV. In the end, the outcome was that I had vertigo. I was given medication through the IV to control the vertigo and got to go home.I am still experiencing some vertigo, but it is not constant like it was on Sunday.
Tuesday I went for my normal before chemo labs. As the nurse flushed the port, she could not get the blood to flow back after the flush. I have had similar problems before and they have had to use heparin to get the flow going. However, heparin was not working, The port was clogged. Another medication was put in the line. It has to sit for a half hour before they can try to access the port again. By now it was time to see my oncologist so I saw her while waiting the half hour. She decided that my counts were high enough on Sunday to complete my chemo on Wednesday. I went back to the infusion lab to check the port. There was still no flow. It takes 2 hours for the medication to completely go through the system before anything else can be done. So I had to sit in the lab for another hour and a half. After that time, they were going to try another dose of the medicine. Luckily I had remembered to grab my Kindle! Now on a normal Tuesday before chemo, I go to the infusion lab for blood work and my oncologist appointment is 2 hours later. During that break, I go get some breakfast. So I had not eaten at all and had this vial hanging from my port so I was stuck. When the 2 hours had passed, the nurse came in again and there was still no blood flow. she prepared the medication to try again. When she began to disconnect the vial to put on the new one, all of a sudden the vial filled with blood! So I didn't have to have the second medication. But the 2 1/2 hours I usually spend at Kaiser had turned into 5 hours. At least I didn't have to have any more blood drawn!
Yesterday I went for my treatment. The nurse flushed the line and the blood flowed so obviously everything the day before had worked. I asked if the clogging was normal or if it was because I have the history of blood clots. She assured me that many people have their port clogged at least once during the course of treatment. That was a big relief. And now I have passed the halfway mark for treatment. I am done with 7/12 of my treatments!
Last night I opened Amity and Jordan's rock. They reminded me of how much they love me and that together we are going to beat this! I am so thankful for all of my children and grandchildren and the love and support they always show me.
Last week was a great week. I got to go to a coworkers retirement party on Tuesday and saw so many of my Ramona family. I felt so much encouragement from all of them. I miss working with them and it felt great to be with them.
On Friday, Amity, Jordan, and I kept Ella and Hannah. Ella's friends always get together the day after they get out of school for a bbq at the park and a water balloon fight. We filled 100 water balloons (as did all the other kids that came) and then headed over to the park. It was a blast! then that evening, Amity, Angie, Randi, Ella, Hannah and I enjoyed a girl's night out at the movies. We went to see Madagascar 3 and enjoyed each other's company.
I have spent much of the last week planning with my sisters for our mom's memorial on the 30th. We have been to see our dad and he is trying to get back into his regular activities. Yesterday was Mom's birthday. She would have been 80. It was a difficult day but we did survive. All of us have received many phone calls from family and friends offering help. Many of my nieces and nephews are coming to California for the memorial and I look forward to seeing all of them. I have enjoyed getting to know them as adults and parents. Sharing our memories will be bittersweet, I'm sure. The one thing I am sure of is that I am lucky enough to have a very large extended family that loves each other. My parents have 26 grandchildren, 64 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchildren. When we do get together (which isn't nearly often enough anymore as we are spread out across the country), it is like we have never been apart. I am so blessed to be a part of the Parkins family. I know my mom was met by her parents and our son along with all of the other family members that have gone before her. It is comforting to know that we will all see each other again when our time comes.
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