April 7, 2011
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Ruh roh, she's on her own....
Posted by Stephanie 10pm CST from the apartment Houston, TX
Been quite awhile since a post went up. Between keeping tabs on what was going on at home and wanting to spend as much time with Sammy as possible while he was here, I didn't get around to sitting down to compose anything. That being said, let's get to it!
Sammy and I had a great time while he was here over spring break. We went for some tasty dinners (lots of tex-mex, of course), hung with Joe and Sarah, but didn't do anything much out and about. We've spent so much time in Houston that the novelty of a lot of the places and activities around the city has worn off. It was much more about just getting time together, since that is a rare commodity nowadays.
Round three of chemo went swimmingly. No problems, just the same minor side effects to battle, and my C02 even behaved better this time around. No extra giant syringe pushes or separate infusions of soda bicarb necessary, or even adjustments to what was in my fluids. I'm sure that's because Dr. Benjamin started the round by frontloading my fluids with the same amount of sodium acetate that he ended the last round with. Whatever the reason for my electrolytes playing nice, I'll take it. I got the last dose of chemo Saturday, and started with the five days of extra fluids Sunday. That means I'll get unhooked from the backpack on Friday afternoon, and I can't wait! I'm very much looking forward to a week away from my constant companion, Myrtle. I hope she doesn't take offense to that. :)
I think I mentioned that for this round, I had a morning hookup appointment time. After a couple of days, I wasn't sure whether I was a fan of the new time frame. Well, all it took was a few long waits in getting called back and delays in the pharmacy before it was mid/late afternoon when my hookup was occurring. That meant I was napping from about 4-6 instead of 11-1. It actually worked out okay no matter what time frame we dealt with, and I really enjoyed having evenings free. It gave me the chance to have dinner with friends and even attend a Houston area Arbonne training. That was AWESOME. So nice to be back in that dynamic environment and meet some more people in the area. It was a much-needed injection of energy and good-vibes for me, and hopefully I'll get out and about to do some stuff with the people I'm meeting.
Granda update: despite a gloomy initial prognosis, grandpa is holding his own and has amazingly been moved out of the hospital and into an extended care facility. Mom continues to be home with him for the time being, since I'm not currently on chemo and don't have to have anyone with me. That's right, I'm fending for myself for about ten days down here until it's time to start the next round. At that point, someone, either mom or Sammy will come back down.
In the two and a half days I've been down here alone, I've managed to keep myself occupied. A lot of that was due to my marathon tax-prep work, but I also had that Arbonne meeting, a dressing change plus all the normal hospital activity, and some grocery shopping to fill the time. Starting tomorrow, well, there's not a lot outside of my daily hospital trips happening. So, we'll see how long it takes me to start going stir crazy!
It's late, and I'm super-achy from the Neupogen injections, so it's bedtime for me. Nighty night folks.
-Steph
