I'm late, again!!

Good grief!

Time flies when we are having fun. (or something like that). Apologies again for the delay in posting. This is an update from 1.5 weeks ago. (This next Tuesday will be another round of chemo)

Labs continue good- in fact Bridge's Hemoglobin is up to 14.5! So she is no longer a ghost, but nice and pink. All other labs remain normal! Her Chest Xray looked even better to us than the Xray she had done in March. Nodes appear even smaller!!! She was a little worried- as the night sweats returned- however- they have stopped and we (including Doc) attribute it to hormones. These wonderful things can go a bit wonky with chemo- which means more tears, more anxiety, some sleepless nights, etc.

She had her chemo- the anti nausea meds worked great again!! However, before the chemo even got started, she threw up- she calls it anticipatory nausea. So, now the plan is to have a Compazine before we go to the hospital. Hopefully, that will help. She tolerated the meds without any problem afterward. That was a good day.

Next day, she had her White Blood cell booster- and then had the bone pain afterward, but that is manageable.

So, we have the month of May to get through- equals two chemo sessions and then a PET scan to see what the next step is. That will be June 1.

As to Social Security/Medicaid, her records went through SS review, and were forwarded on to QA committee- SS cannot tell me a decision (yay or nay), because her file is in QA. We will only know when that committee makes a decision. How long/?? ONLY another month- How will we know- most likely a letter. But If I don't hear/get anything by week 5, then give them a call.
Now you know why government is messed up (That would be government in general- no political statements here). They require more paperwork than GOD, and take more time than GOD to make a decision. If denied by SSA, then and ONLY then can we do the same process through Medicaid (the state government). SO the clock starts ticking all over again. When we first applied for SSA benefits, it stated they take between 90-120 days to make a decision- they weren't kidding, the 120 days is up end of May. Same timeline for Medicaid- yes, the clock starts ticking when SSA decides. So we may be well done with treatment and know nothing. In the meantime, the bills pile up- Bridget figures she owes the hospital 9 of her First born children- maybe she can borrow some from the total loser OCTOMOM. (who by the way, has no trouble whatsoever getting benefits from the government to have more and more and more kids (can we say free medical care to the toon of 9 or so million, plus a new house, lots of attention,.... on and on and on, I am SURE you get my drift).

Bridget is excited (NOT) that it will probably be nice on Chemo day. The last three or so treatments the days have been nice. However, its the time after that that sucks beans. I will be excited if it does anything but SNOW on chemo day. I don't mind the daily drive to Helena to work, however, when it takes more than 1.5 hours to get there and I have to white knuckle it all the way and it's MAY tomorrow- I am so over the snow. I know its good for plants, prevents fires in the summer and generally is good for the planet, but when winter extends into Spring and it seems like its never ending, it gets old.

Ah well, I can see I am tired and frustrated by a lot of things. I probably am boring you to tears now, so I will close.
I can't promise to get these blogs more timely- but I can promise to TRY harder to get them timely. Keep your fingers crossed. ....

Denise

Latest update

Ok, I am late, apologies. It is hard to get the school kid off the computer after I get home- plus, after working 8 hours on the computer at work, sometimes I REALLY don't feel like getting on the darn thing when I get home. Enough about my tardiness. Like I said, apologies.

Bridget had chemo Tuesday. We saw the doc after labs were drawn- they are all still great, all normal!! Yay Bridge! We did talk to him about different anti nausea meds because the last two chemo's ended right away with the urp ups. So he ordered different meds- they worked great- no nausea, no urp ups!!! However, she pretty much slept the entire chemo time- and that is OK. Luckily, I brought cross stitch and nursing magazines to read. So I got caught up on some articles, and have some cross stitching done.

She woke up long enough to put in an order for a Subway sandwich. I took a nice four block walk to Subway, which helped stretch my muscles. And it was nice enough to take a walk YAY spring- is it finally almost here???

So got her home- she went to bed, I worked some, went to the store, took Zach up to get his truck- its working.....Put some elk steaks on the grill- apparently forgot how to cook on the grill, because they were on the charred and tough to eat side----oh well, I do get better with age..... or maybe not....

Bridget woke up long enough to watch a little of the Biggest Loser, and ......Go back to bed. It was all the meds- but as long as she did not throw up... we'll take Sleepy over Urpy (as the eighth dwarf, should now be named).

PET scan will be done after 8 rounds of chemo- so it is scheduled for June 1. The PET scan will show us whether chemo is the treatment of choice or whether we need to add in radiation.

So, today- or last noc- all that sleep and the Decadron she gets to calm reactions to chemo meds- made her emotional and unable to sleep. So I got a call at work. Tears, I can't sleep, I haven't slept, my hearts pounding.... I looked up reactions to Decadron- most likely that is what it is. She called the Cancer nurses and talked to them- yep for sure that is most likely what it is. They expect that the drug will wear off tonight and she will be able to sleep. So keep your fingers crossed.

Uncle tommy gave us a really good helpful hint about aspargus puree having potential cancer fighting properties. I showed her the article, but.... she STILL is not convinced that asparagus has ANY good properties, let alone asparagus puree!!! I think it is left over from being fed Baby food veggies from the Gerber jar... I didn't have the heart to tell her, she actually LOVED all the GREEN puree veggies, it was the Carrots and Sweet potatoes she spit back at me..... Oh well... some like asparagus and some don't.
But Thanks Uncle Tommy for trying. I think its like you and the mushroom phobia....... ;)

Well, enough blathering on from me.

Thank you for staying tuned and the positive thoughts and prayers! I know I have said it before, but will say it again---- We appreciate them!!

Denise