January 22, 2008

Tuesday - Day 15

Hi everyone!

We went to clinic today and it was a busy day there. First we were scheduled to go right to the Imaging Dept and get a CT scan done... of course they had never heard of us, so we sat there for awhile waiting. Finally Alex got another picture of her lungs and we were on our way upstairs to clinic. Alex wasn't feeling all that well today but there ended up being some good parts of the visit. First, her blood pressure is finally starting to come down. We are getting to kick off 1 1/2 pills off the list tonight. Yae!!! If it is still down next Tuesday, all the blood pressure meds are history. Yippee! Alex's counts were the craps. But, we figured they would be. Her red blood cells were WAY down and her white blood cells are almost gone. SO... Alex received another transfusion today (picture posted). If any of you have ever had one of these, you know that they take FOREVER!!! First they have to type and match the blood... each friggin time you do it... that takes a few hours... SO, we sat in the infusion room and watched TV and waited (picture posted). But, while we waited we found out that the lung thingy is definitely getting better and is almost gone. Makes me wonder if maybe it is just some left over goobers in there from the biopsy awhile back... Dr. says "could be", but whatever it is, it is going away. Finally the blood arrived and Alex gets closely monitored the first 15 - 20 minutes for signs of reaction. She has always done well with getting blood, so we were good there. Then we just sat there watching TV while the blood ran in... and then she got her chemo too, which took a whole minute or so... NOW... I learned something new today. Even though this Vincristine can be nasty nasty chemo, there is one good thing... it does not affect blood counts. SO, they think in a couple of days, her counts will start to rebound, and she won't have anything dragging them down again for some time. Which means... maybe we can get out of the house again soon?? Hopefully.

So... here is a funny story... While Alex was in the hospital, they gave her this stuffed animal, snowman, that was given directly to the dog (Murphy) when we got home... Murphy LOVED this snowman. Well, the snowman lost it's head over the weekend and it went in the garbage. Murphy was heartbroken... well, they have this tree in Clinic that is decorated each month, in whatever holiday type whatever we are in... well, right now it is decorated with these SAME snowmen... SO, Alex and I were on our way out of the clinic, and Dan had gone to get the car... so we were walking by the tree and Alex leans over and starts yanking on one of the snowmen...and pulls it from the tree and tucks it into MY coat! (thank GOD they weren't tied into the tree) I DO believe Alex is starting to feel better. She is starting to steal things. We got into the elevator and we were both laughing... and she says "that was pretty stealthy of me". I think the blood did her some good.

On the blood topic... I have never given much thought to blood... the people who get it, or the people who donate it. I have to say that I am so thankful right now for those people who donate blood. It isn't a fun thing to do... and there isn't much immediate thanks for doing it... but I want anyone out there, that gives blood to know... how thankful I am. And to all of you who are able and willing... please continue to give blood. You have no idea who's life you could be saving. This is Alex's 7th or 8th bag of red blood cells... she has also gotten many bags of platelets. She wouldn't be here today without them. SO... whoever you are... Thank you!

I posted a few pictured tonight. The one of the infusion room is where they send you after you are seen in the examination room. The doctor comes in... checks her over and we go over meds and any questions that I have had over the week... they take blood to check all her levels, and then they send you out to the "infusion suite". Here, Alex sits in a lazy-boy type chair and family and friends can sit around her. There are refrigerators with snacks and drinks... and games (mainly for children) and tv's with movies or games. They really try to make your time in there as pleasant as possible. It would be nice if we didn't spend so MUCH time there, but hey... at least we came home tonight!

Ok everyone... keep the white blood cell vibes cook'n! We need them!