Our Day

My son thinks it is time for me to update my blog and tell everyone how I am doing now that I'm home from the hospital.

First, he wants me to tell you about our wonderful nanny. She would like a new boyfriend. He must be tall, dark and handsome, with qualities like Prince William. I told him I wanted a new boyfriend too and he replied, "that's what you have me for Mom, I'm your boyfriend." So true; but if the universe wants to send a new tall, dark and handsome prince my way, that'd be okay.

Today was back to business. Thanks to Linda and my son's help we got Jungle Roses orders out without to much difficulty. I'm looking forward to the fall season and planning our holiday offerings. I'm also working on my "Pink in the Jungle" package with profits going to the Huntsman Cancer Center and am hoping to launch it within the next couple of weeks for breast cancer awareness month.

My son thinks everyone is updated now... lol. He wants to work on his science projects. I bought him a polymer lab from the discovery website. He mixed slime yesterday and today he wants to mix "goo." This should be fun. I love doing home school with him. It's amazing how much "school" can be fit into ordinary activities.

Hospital Photos

He loved the cake; and the big construction machines that are adding onto the building.

Scar tissue? It’s just scar tissue???

All of the tests came back. Nothing Dr. Goff biopsied was cancerous. It is just scar tissue. Just scar tissue!!!! Ha! I knew it, probably left there from my many episodes of pneumonia earlier this year. I'm so happy.

Dr. Goff read the report for the first time in front of me and one of my nurses. We all had tears in our eyes. Of course I wanted to run and jump and yell... but I have this damn tube poking out of my chest; it really restricts jumps for joy.

Soon word spread throughout the floor and a few hours later the nursing staff brought me a huge pink cake so I could have a celebration with my son when he gets here later on... that made me cry. They are all planning to come in when he gets here because they want to see his reaction to the cake; they even got his favorite kind. We decided to tell him it is just a party for Mom because "she is so special," since he doesn't know I am fighting cancer... I think that is fine.

I called Linda and asked her to bring up my camera so I can take pictures and post them later.

Never have surgery on a Friday

I have decided to never have surgery on a Friday again; and that I will always ask my surgeon if he has vacation scheduled or any days off in the days following my procedure. When Dr. Goff finally showed up yesterday morning, all my problems got solved with one wave of his magic wand... duh. I feel stupid.

Yes, in just a brief moment he was able to solve my pain problems. I'm now on 2 Lortab 10s every 4 -6 hours. That was the magic formula. Why someone kept me on morphine shots every 2 hours all weekend is unknown and nobody will own up to it now. lol... and I have to admit that my mind is working much better now too.

What was actually in my pleural space is still a mystery. We won't know until we get all the reports back. He said "it is not what I would expect to find in this situation." which I understand as an intellectual way to say "I dunno... I've never seen this before." I speak that way; so I understand it. Language manipulators... you gotta watch out for us. He mentioned that we have to "assume" that it is cancer and maybe it just looks different because it has already been treated... I can tell he is curious; he wants to know. I suspect that he usually doesn't get patients post-chemo, so I think that explanation is very possible.

He said maybe today or tomorrow before they would pull the tubes. He wants to get the most lung expansion possible; and I soooo agree. Even though I can't wait to get home and be with my son, it would be a drag to go through all this and not get the total benefit... it's been too miserable.

Although, in a way I'm glad I'm sitting here zoned out on painkillers while watching the economic bloodbath... it's very scary for me. Seasonal businesses and luxury items like Jungle Roses will be really affected. While some financial problems don't touch my regular customers that much; a falling stock market does. I need to get strong and get back to work. I've already been walking a fine line with all that has been going on... I remember what our business was like after 9/11's stock market crash... that along with my health issues... whew... it's going to be a real challenge.

My first sponge bath...

Nope, I've never had one before. It felt strangely good. A woman from the Ukraine did it. It was funny... just the accent alone made it amusing. If you can picture it, "you vant me do vash the back now yes?" They finally have my pain under control but I'm still coughing and it sounds like I have a Harley on my chest when I breathe.

Funny things are coming back to me now. Without knowing; I caused trouble for my surgeon. The OR nurse asked if I had been marked; you know how they mark you with an X with a sharpie to make sure they do the right side? So I said "yes, a girl in his office did it." Unbeknownst to me, that is against the hospital rules and the surgeon must mark you personally. This nurse was so pissed off that she made my surgeon come out of the OR to mark me himself. He was mad. He strode over to me with one of those mad fast walks, threw back the top of my gown on the shoulder and then with a ball point pen he roughly drew a small X in the same spot as the sharpie X. He then said, "I marked her myself, happy now?" Then he turned away and walked out in a huff. The nurse had a huge grin of satisfaction; I had a pissed off surgeon. Good thing I didn't tell her that I interrupted their lunch and a girl marked me in the hallway while holding a plate of Chinese food.

This left everyone in the pre-op room with gaping mouths and a tad bit nervous. Especially the 2 guys that were wheeling me in... so what happens? As they take off with me they get wrapped up in the TV cord and start to pull it off the wall. It doesn't come all the way off though; but that's because the weight of the gurney and me managed to sever the cord before the fall could happen. So we destroyed a hospital TV.

As I was waking up in recovery I was having dream in which my son was showing me something, the details are sketchy. But it was some new idea he had come up with that made us millions... I'm going to start paying attention to all his ideas... lol.

My recovery nurse is a breast cancer survivor. And we spent my recovery time sharing chemo stories. She was really sweet. It's mind boggling. I have met so many people who have either had cancer or know someone close that has... it's a disease that affects so many people. In some cases people refer to it like it's a root canal or something... you know by saying, "well when my grandmother had her breast cancer...” Odd.

This is so freakin’ miserable...

They haven't been able to control my pain... I'm so miserable. Yesterday they got it controlled but my nurse got in trouble because he had overdosed me on Tylenol. Rats. So now they have me on Percalone, which I had never heard of; it's a Percaset minus the Tylenol. But that hasn't been working so they are giving me shots of morphine every two hours. And on top of that I'm nauseated and keep coughing. Every time I cough it hurts like hell.

I still haven't seen my surgeon, Dr Goff. Everyone here says my chest tube is ready to come out—except my surgeon's partner, who is on call for Dr. Goff, who obviously doesn't want to get his hands dirty over the weekend and said "no," that we had to wait until Dr. Goff came back on Monday. He came in, read the number on the unit that the fluid collects in and he read it wrong; the nurse even pointed this out to him and he brushed her off and said "oh this takes 3 or 4 days." I wanted to punch him.

So maybe tomorrow... I hope so; I can't stand much more of this. Sorry to be so negative; but pain sends a positive attitude out the window fast.

Sorry I stepped on that hose going to your lungs Mom...

Here I am. I made it through the surgery and I'm now recovering. It's been quite a journey. I have not yet met with my surgeon; but he told Lee and Linda that things went well. He found some "patches" that he is going to biopsy; although all the tests they have done so far on it are "inconclusive." He has ordered some more testing but the results won't be back for a week or so.

There is pain; but it's tolerable. The really cool thing is that the hospital now has "room service." No kidding. You get a full scale restaurant menu to pick from. It's so nice... until you get the food and you realize… ohhhh yeah; it's still hospital food... lol. But it's okay.

My respiratory therapy is going well. I'm already up to what my function was before the surgery. And I seem to be draining well... I'm hoping to go home Monday or Tuesday.

My son visited this afternoon and checked everything out. He is very curious about everything; all the equipment and what my blood pressure is... so cute. It's hard for me to be away from him. I can't begin to explain how much I miss him.

I have actually spent the day reading and watching TV. Something I haven't done in years. I even watched the debate tonight. It's boring. I miss watching Noggin... lol.