On the road again...

Well, we've only been home for a few days and we're packing up to leave again. We're headed out to Fredericksburg to spend the new year with Jeff's family. Should be lots of fun. Can't wait to see our dogs again, either. Jeff's mom and dad have been "babysitting" Maggie and Bromley for about 3 weeks now and we miss them. But anyway, just a little note to say we're leaving again and we'll be back on the 1st. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and a healthy one as well! Love ya'll!

Merry Christmas!

Hello All, just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We arrived home today from our trip to Louisiana. We had a great time and got to see just about everyone in our family and a few friends as well. We got lots of great presents (one of which was a new camera) so look forward to many new pictures on here shortly. It will probably take me awhile to figure out how to get them on the computer, so be patient. But we took lots of good pictures so I'll try to get them posted so you can see them too.

On a side note, I had heard just recently that I might qualify for social security disability benefits, since I was out of work for so long. So I looked into it and spent a couple of hours filling out all the forms. I figured I might as well get it while I can since it probably won't be there when I need it when I'm older. So lo and behold, I was approved and my first check came in! It was the November check since that is when I could start receiving benefits. But it is quite a lot of money which is great. The bad part is, I plan to start back to work in January, and I think I stop getting payments when I return to work. But I will get it for a few months at least, so I'm excited about that.

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year!

The past few days...

Let's see what's been going on the past few days. Jeff's parents left to go back to Fredericksburg on Thursday. They took the two dogs with them because we're going to be going to Louisiana for Christmas and it's easier if they have them. I sure do miss them, though. Thursday I took a neonatal resuscitation class that I have to have in order to work, so I got that done. Saturday Jeff and I went over to our friends house for a small Christmas party. It was very nice, we had good food, good friends and good music. I wasn't feeling all that great, because I have recently been diagnosed with shingles. They are not fun, let me tell you. I have this nasty rash on my lower stomach and on my leg. It's very painful and sometimes itchy. But thanks to a great doctor friend, I got the medicine I need and I'm in the process of taking that. Sunday was a very bad day. I think I got out of bed for like 30 minutes all day. I felt sick and extremely tired. I think I slept like 20 hours yesterday. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sleep last night since I slept all day, but no worries, I slept very well for once. I think the shingles medicine is kicking in and starting to help my rash clear up. It's going to take awhile, but I don't think it's spreading anymore.

Anyway, that about sums up the last few days. Just going to take it easy the rest of the week, finish wrapping presents and then packing. Jeff and I plan on leaving for Louisiana on Friday morning and coming back on the 26th. Then we'll head west on the 29th to Fredericksburg to spend New Years with Jeff's family. I'm looking forward to seeing all my family and friends that I haven't seen in awhile. It should be fun. That's all for now...

A bad day and a good day...

Well, yesterday I had a sorta bad day. I had some problems with nausea and vomiting. Not exactly sure why, but I did. So I just laid on the couch all day and tried not to puke. Not my idea of fun. But anyway, I felt better by dinner time. We watched Pirates 3 (Jeff and I had not seen it yet), and then we went to bed. Today was much better. I didn't feel nauseous at all, in fact I was shopping all day. Jeff's mom and I left around 11am and didn't get home until 4:30pm! We got a lot accomplished. I think I am pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping, now I just have to wrap everything. Maybe I can convince Jeff to wrap the presents since I had to do the hard part in finding them and buying them. We'll see how that goes. It's supposed to be getting cold here tonight. Not looking forward to that. I enjoy the hot weather. But it doesn't really feel like Christmas unless it is cold outside. There's only 13 days left until Christmas. Hope you get your shopping done in time! The one thing I would like for Christmas is my hair to grow in enough so I don't have to wear a hat or a scarf. It's coming in pretty good and there is a good chance that it will be thick/long enough to go bareheaded. But I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm going to bring my hats/scarves for back up. I'll be sure to let ya know, though. Maybe even post a picture. But only for those of you that have been nice this year! Ha!

Feelling better every day...

Today Jeff's parents and I went and did a little shopping. We didn't make it to the mall, but that's on the agenda for tomorrow. I got my paintings framed, so now we just have to find somewhere to hang them. They look really sharp now that they are framed.

I am feeling pretty good today. Every day is better than the last. I think I am over my nauseous stage. I'm taking pain meds every four hours. Not too bad. I do put some heat on my back, which helps a lot.

Must go now. Gotta watch the Saints beat the Falcons. It's rare we get to see them on tv so we're gonna take advantage of it.

Poll

There is an interesting poll on the Ohio State website, http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ .

It's "What do you think the result of the BCS National Championship game will be?"

- Buckeyes by more than 14

- Buckeyes by 14 or less

- LSU by 14 or less

- LSU by more than 14


Guess which one is winning! Geaux Tigers! All you tiger fans out there go and vote. We'll show them who has the most fans!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The operative word there being "look". It was almost 80 degrees here today. Sheesh! We went to get a Christmas tree and I was sweating! Pretty crazy. Anyway, today me, Jeff and his parents went and got a small, conservative tree to put up since we don't have many days left until Christmas and we won't be here on Christmas anyway. So we got a small one, but it looks real good. I'll post a picture after we get it all decorated. Jeff and his dad put the lights outside on the house and his mom and I unpacked all our Christmas boxes. I have a fairly decent size house but too much Christmas stuff to put out! I need more room! I think it will take a little while, but we'll be able to find a spot for everything. We're taking a break to cook some dinner. We're having fried shrimp, onion rings and french fries. Very healthy, right? It sounds so yummy! Hopefully I can keep it down. I've felt better today, still a little nauseous, but everything has stayed down. I'll try to keep it that way. Anyway, it's still hard to believe Christmas is a little over three weeks away. I like it hot and all, but it should be at least cold enough were I don't have to put the A/C on! That's all for now. Hope everyone else is getting into the Christmas spirit!

A little better today...

Hey all! I'm feeling a little better this morning. I haven't puked yet, so that's always good news! I'm just trying to take it easy and rest a bunch. I ate some breakfast and so far so good. Yesterday afternoon/night I was able to keep food down. But I literally laid on the couch and didn't get up for anything. I hope this goes away soon. Jeff went to work this morning. His parents should be on their way. I expect them sometime this afternoon. That's about all for now. Thanks for the comments on my blood pressure. I'll try them out!

Home at last...

Well, we made it home on Monday night around 9:30pm. We were all very tired and ready to be at home. We stopped at the pharmacy down the street from us to fill my prescriptions. But alas, it was not to be. One of my meds was too strong for the local pharmacies to have on hand and they were all about to close at 10pm. We needed the medicine for that night so we called MD Anderson and found out that we could fill the script at the Emergency room pharmacy. So at 10pm, Jeff and I headed back to MD to get the script filled. We finally made it back home for good at 12:40am and went to bed. Jeff went back to work Tuesday morning, so my mom was left to take care of me. It was an ok day. I was super tired all day, I guess catching on sleep I didn't get at the hospital. Plus, the pain meds make you sleepy too. I also was having problems with nausea and vomiting, and not eating very much. We weren't sure what the problem was, cause I was taking my no puking meds from chemo so they should have worked. My pain was not entirely under control, either. This morning I called my nurse practitioner and switched my meds up a bit and that seemed to help. But I am still feeling sick to my stomach. We kinda figured out that it may be due to my low blood pressure, which I have had since chemo. I had it during this hospital stay and they were concerned about it. They would ask if I was dizzy or nauseous when I got up and walked around. At the time, I wasn't, but that is exactly what's happening now. I will be fine, then get up to walk around like I'm supposed to, then feel nauseous and have to lay down. I will call the nurse practitioner again tomorrow to see if we can fix this somehow. Very frustrating. Everyone else seems to have problems with high blood pressure, but not me, I have to again, have the weird thing that no one knows what to do with. I don't know of any "pill" you can take to make your blood pressure go up. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. I'm not going to get any better lying around in bed all day and not eating anything. So hopefully we'll get some answers tomorrow. I gotta go to bed now, try to keep you updated tomorrow.

On your marks...

Good News! We are getting discharged from MD Anderson tonight! Lauri has shown great improvement today, and they have been able to control her pain with oral medications, so they are letting us go home within a few hours from now.

Early this morning Lauri's chest tubes were removed, taking with it the source of the extreme pain she had encountered yesterday. Shortly thereafter Lauri's epidural was capped and she was given combinations of Hydrocodone and Oxycodone to control the pain as the epidural wore off. The Surgery Team decided to go ahead and give Lauri two units of blood to get her hemoglobin count up, which will make her feel better. It takes time to get blood orders on the regular floor rooms here, and it takes about 2.5 hours to infuse 2 units. We are waiting for the blood transfusion to finish up before we are allowed to leave.

Even better news came this morning... Assuming Lauri's CT scan in January is clear of cancer (which it should be), further chemotherapy treatments will not be required! We were visited by our Oncologist who told us that based on the Surgeon's reports stating that all of the nodules were successfully removed and no further nodules were found, chemotherapy should not be required. We meet with our Oncologist and take a CT Scan at the end of January. As long as the CT Scan is clear, which we expect it to be, then we will finally return to our normal monitoring checkups every 3 months.

We'll post again when we get home. Pretty excited now, the worst appears to be over!

Geaux Tigers!

It was just announced that the Tigers are playing in the BCS Championship game! We are so excited! We sure hope the extra time off allows the team to get healthy. Ask Virginia Tech what a health LSU Tiger football team can do...

As for Lauri's status, she has been having "episodes" of extreme pain for short periods of time since yesterday. We have been working with the Pain Team here at MD Anderson trying to find the right combination of drugs to alleviate the pain effectively. She describes the pain as starting out in the middle of the upper back, between the shoulder blades, growing in intensity and shooting like fire and lightning down her right arm to her right elbow. The pain level rises quickly, then fades after at most 5 minutes. Lauri ranks the pain during these periods as an 11, on a scale of 1 to 10.

We believe the pain is due to the chest tubes inserted in her side. We also believe the tubes are very near a nerve. When the tube is moved in some way within the body, then it disturbs the nerve, causing extreme pain.

In addition to her epidural, the Pain Team has Lauri taking two different IV pain medications continuously as well as several shots of localized anesthetic injected into her back at the location where the severe pain episodes start. The pain still breaks through the medications, although reduced in severity. We anticipate getting the chest tubes removed tomorrow morning, at which time we expect to see this severe pain go away. Lauri's tough and is handling the pain well. As long as she stays still, then she does OK. Those who know Lauri well also know that she is a long-time Board Member of the Commission on Sitting Still on a Bed or Couch...

Lauri's dressing on her incision was removed today and we got our first look at it. It looks just like the left side, and arching scar along the lower rib cage. I told Lauri it looks kind of like gills. Since Lauri is not what I would call an Olympic Swimmer, she might find these new enhancements very useful! She was not amused...

Oh well, nobody said this surgery stuff would be easy. Lauri continues to do very well. She is a fighter, and she'll be just fine. She can't wait to get home and get ready for the big game! Geaux Tigers!!

A Room at Last!

We got into a room here at MD Anderson at around 9:30pm last night. Lauri has been resting while the doctors continue to watch her electrolyte levels and try to control the discomfort in her right shoulder. She has been up and walking and has been put on a regular diet to try and bring her electrolyte levels up.

We will remain in the hospital until the drainage in the chest tube decreases and Lauri's pain can be controlled with oral medication. We expect to be here for a few more days.

We did get to talk to our Thoracic Surgery team this morning. Our Surgeon reiterated that the surgery went well, and the drainage issues seen last night appear now to be resolved. He also clarified that during the thoracotomy procedure, they do not actually break any ribs. He says they actually take a portion of the rib out, in an order to thin the rib, making it more flexible. This way they can spread the ribs without breaking them. Interesting...

Anyway, we are holding steady here at the room now, watching football and trying to rest between alarm tones, blood draws, and nursing/doctor/pain team/volunteer services visits... Lauri gets better every day, and we look forward to going home sometime next week.