Facebook Pixel

24 Hours

 
Rate This

That’s right. 24 hours…the amount of time I spent outside CTCA after being discharged yesterday, and then having to be re-admitted today. I felt fantastic yesterday when I was discharged. In fact, I had scheduled a hair appointment for that afternoon because I had so much energy and had no pain. I also walked around the Scottsdale Borgata and checked out swimsuits. It was such an exhilarating feeling to be out and about on my own. I also haven’t really shopped at any stores or malls this year (except for the brief stint with Lisa). Everything I have bought has been online, so I was having a great time just being inside the swimsuit store trying on suits.

Shortly after, the fun ended and I started having back pain where the surgery had taken place days earlier. This was strange because I had not felt pain there since surgery. Why was it all of the sudden showing up now?

I spent the rest of the day/night visiting with friends at my house and taking care of misc. items and paperwork. As the night went on, I started having cold/flu-like symptoms including: chills, fever, sore throat, body aches and more. The fever wasn’t too concerning to me because I have had a fever every night since the surgery. I decided to wait to see how I would feel the next day before calling my care manager at CTCA.

Today (Sunday) Erika and I spent a good portion of the day running a few errands. I still had major pain in the back and a new annoyance of a stomach ache. Actually, the stomach issue felt similiar to what I had months ago with the pancreatitis. I was nervous that this may be another round forming. I called the care manager on call and she spoke with the doc. They wanted me to come in.

Within a couple of hours, Erika and I were back at CTCA. Based on the tests so far, the doc seems to think it is either an ulcer, gastritis or something wrong with my gall bladder. He set me up to have a hidascan tomorrow after radiation to take a closer look at the gall bladder to see if this is in fact the root of the problem.

We still don’t know what is causing the stomach issue. The Dilaudid I have been taking at home the past day and here at CTCA is not making an impact on the pain level. When I do receive Dilauded via IV, it seems to work much quicker and there is a noticeable difference. The problem is that the nurse cannot send me home with IV Dilaudid, so they need to find a solution that I can utilize at home in my own environment. I am really just hoping maybe I ate some bad food and it’s not anything more serious.

I am beginning to get really annoyed at all of these complications. It would be so nice just to focus on the cancer treatment and use the rest of the time to take advantage of doing things that I love, such as travel. This is the first time in many years that I have not been out of town in months. I am starting to feel a little land-locked crazy. I am craving to be by the ocean, sitting on a porch watching the waves roll in as I sip on a glass of wine or tea. I think sometimes nature can have a healing effect on the mind, body and spirit.

Tomorrow I have radiation. I believe I am about half way through radiation for this round on my lower back. The radiation departments between St. Joes, SHC, and CTCA are all slightly different. The largest is the amount of time in the radiation room. Here at CTCA the radiation machine swirls above, around and below with sound as quiet as a whisper. This goes on for about 10 minutes or longer depending on how one is positioned. If I were to even move a small muscle in my stomach, it would add on more time.

The actual radiation takes about two minutes. The “bed” that I lay on for radiation is a hard plastic top, so when I lay down it literally feels like pins and needles. Especially since my back is extra sensitive from the surgery. I asked the radiologist why the process took longer than I was used to. Apparently, diagnostic scans are performed to collect extremely detailed sets of data, which optimize chances of detecting small tumors. The equipment produces digital images, which also allows CTCA to evaluate at post-processing work stations for abnormal anatomy and physiology.

I am hoping that from all of this radiation, chemo and meds that something will progress in a positive direction. I haven’t had much good news lately, so it would be nice to have a small win against this battle of lung cancer.

Link to blog: http://themelissawaller.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/24-hours/

Add a CommentComments

There are no comments yet. Be the first one and get the conversation started!

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
By submitting this form, you agree to EmpowHER's terms of service and privacy policy

We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

Lung Cancer

Get Email Updates

Lung Cancer Guide

Have a question? We're here to help. Ask the Community.

ASK

Health Newsletter

Receive the latest and greatest in women's health and wellness from EmpowHER - for free!