Good evening all,
Had to share a few little nuggets with you tonight...first of all, a great card I got from Amy Becker out in Airdrie. BRILLIANT! LOVE IT!
As you know, I was a wee bit down yesterday because Tim had to head back to Ontario. Lucky for me, my dear friend Jackie Elkie happened to be in town and came over to spend the evening. It was so good to see her - it had really been too damn long. And her no-nonsense, positive attitude to this whole thing perked me right up.
 | ||
| Back in the DAY! |
This morning Chantelle drove me to the canser clinic to have the 5-FU bottle removed and low and behold there was a problem! Turns out the skin on my arm is not tolerating the adhesive from the bandage covering my PICC-line and the skin is slowly breaking down. SO, they had to put a dry bandage on it, that needs to be cleaned every 2 days. This means Chantelle had to be taught how to clean and dress it and now has to come over every two days to do so. This also means that I am at a higher risk for infection, so I will need to have my PICC-line traded out for a PORT. (Similar deal - central catheter line that runs to my heart, but is inserted UNDER the skin and stitched in. To access it they still have to break the skin each time, but use a numbing agent so I can't feel the pokes. Nance thinks hers is the cat's ass.) This will also be very much less noticeable, as I won't have two catheter lines hanging out of my arm and I will be able to shower without having to water-proof wrap it. BUT it ALSO means ANOTHER procedure. Super. Ah well, all in the name of survival.
So, a couple of other things I want to share that totally made my day. I received a text message from my good friend Jason Nicurity who told me that my blood transfusion story inspired him to donate blood for the first time. Ever. Gave me tears. You really don't have any clue how important blood donation is until you are on the receiving end of it. During this process I have discovered that my blood type is O-, meaning I am a universal donor. And I have never done so. Shame on me. I have decided that when I beat this damn disease, and if they will let me, one of my ways to give back will be blood donation. So simple, but so important.
The other thing that happened tonight was a phone call from ANOTHER old JOI friend, Kristen Shannon. Honey, you are the BOMB. Your infectious laughter and caring nature are an inspiration and I am so glad to know you. Your call reminded me of one of the MOST fun nights of my life! Picture it - Arizona 2008 - we laughed until we cried - and mostly at Bender and Pete's expense if I remember correctly. How's this for a blast from the past?
That's pretty much my day in a nutshell, Dad-dio arrived this afternoon and we are planning to hunker in for the weekend and avoid as much of the storm as we can. Tomorrow is Day 4, which historically has been a rough one for me but I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that I have figured out all the little tricks to make it easier. Will let you know how it goes.
Hey, Barbie Girl!
ReplyDeleteI'm just stopping in to say Hi and to let you know I'm thinking about you. Thanks for your comments on my blog, sweet thang!
By the by ... the skin on my arm, too, was sensitive. From the beginning I had to always ask for the "special tape" ... the one that was hypo-allergenic (can't remember what it was called). Eventually, though the chemo made my skin too delicate for any kind of tape at all and I, too, had to have dry bandaging over my PICC-line. It was near the end of my chemo so I was able to avoid the Port Procedure. The first time we realized my skin was breaking down was when I was at the cancer centre having my PICC line flushed and rebandaged when ... rrrrrip ... a patch of skin came off when the tape was removed. The nurse was much more careful when removing the rest of the tape but even then skin came off. At first I thought it was just a little bit but later when the redness really started to show it was quite a strip and it hurt like hell! I guess it makes sense that one's skin would become a little unstable with all that cell-killing poison coursing through us. Duh. Still, it came as a surprise. Nobody had mentioned that possibility and, in fact, at the time I thought it was "just me".
Keep the thrill of having a real shower front and centre when you're getting that port installed.
Wishing you sleeeeeeep and sweet dreams, Barb!
Love the card, by the way! RIGHT ON!!
:( if you were any sort of + blood type my donations would help you, but alas, that's just not the way it's going to be I guess. This last year has really reminded me of the importance of donating... which is super easy, just takes a little time (and snacking beforehand). Plus you get juice or coffee and donuts after *drool*
ReplyDelete