Dressing and tube under left arm, I'm facing to the left.
Well, I'm back home after four days in St. John's Hospital in Jackson again. Thank you to Judi for letting you all know on the blog what was happening, and I thank her for all she unexpectedly did during this time. She is a special friend and believes in service for the Lord. She kept notes for me every day and wrote down what the doctors were saying. She also makes little character sketches of each person. This was to have been my time off from chemo, and I've spent four more of my precious days dealing with another episode of bad luck. Just what I needed. And..... When will it ever end??? Nanny wrote today and said her brother and sister-in-law call their bad luck "eating s--- sandwiches" and that I should go on a diet.
I'm just going to report on events as I can remember instead of trying to post to the blog by each day. I'm pretty sure since I didn't keep a log that I won't remember things in order. Spelling and terminology is guesswork. Judi's notes are a big help.
WEDNESDAY: Judi and I were supposed to go to chemo on Tuesday (see blog of January 15) and that was the day of bad weather and roads. Still getting reports of how awful it was to be out on that day. So when I woke up Wednesday and it looked like a decent day, ..... reluctantly and pretty tired.... I called Judi and asked if she felt like trying to make the trip again. She was very willing and we managed to get up to the hospital by about 10:30. On the way out our lane just over in the sagebrush field next to the house I saw two elk, and there were lots of deer along the way, both going and coming back. We saw a bull moose going across the snowy fields heading toward the willows up near Pape's and the snow seemed nearly up to its belly. We both said "0-0-0-0-0-0-0". The roads were quite good considering how bad the day before had been, and a beautiful trip as usual. Judi got some photos of the scenery along the way. There was noticeably deeper snow all through Bondurant and the Hoback than a week ago. The river was 99% frozen solid and snow covered.
The oncology nurses used my new port to put in the chemo treatment and it does work pretty slick. We ordered our lunch from the hospital grill and ate while my chemo cocktail was dripping. Our family relative/friend Virginia, who also was depicted in a character sketch, did come over to Oncology to visit that morning, and during the time she was there the nurses were asking me how I was feeling. I told them about feeling breathless and the pain I'd had all week, and they called the doctors. When they listened with the stethoscope the left side was "silent". Today my oxygen saturation at one point was 83% when past measurements had always been up to 96%. It needs to be above 90% (that reading comes from the little plastic clip they always stick on one of your fingers). I lost three more pounds since last week.
Dr. Meno came and visited with me there as he usually does at my chemo appointment. While he was there, I asked him some of the questions and concerns I had about the pancreatic tumor and he said "we can't cure the tumor but we will shrink it down and let you go on with your life. Then it will grow again and we'll start another round of chemo.
Then I was whisked over to Radiation in a wheel chair for a chest x-ray and Virginia went on home. It didn't take long for the radiologist and the doctors to check the x-rays and after that back in the chemo unit, Dr. Meno let me know that unfortunately my left lung had collapsed. Judi asked how I felt, and I told her I was upset and nervous, but also was mad this had happened. I said "I'd better take a few deep breaths". And Judi said, "Good luck with that!". Judi made a reservation at the Hitching Post Motel, which gives a low rate to people with relatives and friends in the hospital. She went out and around a little to pass the time while she was there. She very thoughtfully brought me back a new looking fleece v-neck with flowered embroidery. I had mentioned that I was really short of sweatshirts and comfortable tops. Thank you Judi. I love this shirt and will put it to good use.
They wheeled me right over to Primary Care Unit and wham, bam thank you ma'am, there I was back in a hospital gown and bed. And nothing packed to stay overnight again. But then I've found that you don't need a thing when you go to the hospital. This was a regular hospital room, not surgery. Judi was sitting with me there, and drew cartoon animals on the white board that is in the room, as she has always done every time we were in a place that had them. One was a dog that said: "Raven and Sparky say "come home soon". It was there all week and none of the nurses would erase them. The surgeon Dr. Poore came in and explained what had happened. Apparently he (may have) made a tiny needle prick into the left lung when he put the port in last week, and my lung had gradually deflated. I believe it is called a pleural thrombosis?. The pleura is the lining between the lungs and your rib cage. I learned from him and several of the technicians and nurses that the most they had usually seen a lung collapsed was 15 or 20% and mine was 89 to 100%. I have no idea how I had even functioned during the last week (which I had reported on the blog during that time).
They said they would do the procedure as soon as possible today. They set up right in the PCU room to insert a tube into my chest which would suck the air out of the pulmonary cavity with negative suction (not a tube into the lung itself or not "reinflating" the lung.) The tube would stay in until the lung was inflated and filled the space again. The hole in the lung being so small, should seal itself when the lung comes back to normal. There would only be a local anesthetic to the pleura (with percoset? and an amnesiac? ) i.e. I was awake. Dr. Poore started the procedure at 1:10 p.m. and finished at about 2:10. First he described how it would be done, with a hole made through the rib cage at about the 4 and 5th? ribs under my armpit being careful of blood vessels on the top of the lower rib and going below the upper rib where there were no blood vessels so there would be no bleeding (or maybe the other way around). Afterwards a large dressing was placed over the area where the tube had been inserted and was connected to a portable device that collected fluid and gently sucked air out of the cavity allowing the lung to reinflate into the empty space. It hurt "a tad" more than I thought it would, according to what I was told. I was hooked to the IV with oxygen and morphine drip for the first two days, then after that oral pain medicine.
Along about this time, sooner or later, I began to feel that load of prayers, blessings, prayer lists and masses which everyone has been sending my way for so long now pouring down around me. It was just awesome.
Debbie called Joe and explained what was going on, since I was on the groggy side. Kay also talked to him and described what Judi had told her until he understood it all. He had gone to town on Thursday for his haircut and said it was really blowing snow in there but not at our house at all. Frosty came and cleared out the road for us again today. It stayed just great for me to get home.
When he came back later, Dr. Poore told me to do a deep breathing exercise in and out 10 times each hour. I would be in the hospital two or maybe three nights. I was on a regular diet. Later got up a couple of times to go to the restroom. Don't know where she got the statistics but in the midst of all the medical info Judi's notes say that trumpeter swans eat 20 pounds of vegetation a day!
THURSDAY: I had x-rays early in the morning. The doctors visited and said I could probably go home tomorrow. My oxygen level was at 97%.They had me up walking 3 or 4 times today and I felt fairly strong, not wobbly or anything. They stressed that it was important to keep up the deep breathing, and walking to prevent blood clots etc. Down the hall - remember last time I was here I told you there were some computers and this atrium room looks out over the elk refuge - and another similar room down another hall - so I would walk to there. There were a big bunch of elk within view and there were two coyotes and an eagle eating on a carcass. Later Dr. Meno said I could go home tomorrow, but..... wait!
Virginia came over to visit three of the four days, and it was sure nice to see her. It wasn't very nice weather out to be going visiting, so appreciate very much that she came over. Virginia is the nicest person. Today I talked to several friends, and to Joe each day and my sister from AZ and our daughters called.
FRIDAY: This morning Dr. Poor took the chest tube out. He said it wouldn't hurt, unless something wasn't right. And...YES IT DID HURT. Dr. Poore was quite worried again. The nurse said maybe I was a little tense and needed to relax. Do you think?? They put on a somewhat smaller dressing. And back I went for more x-rays several times. The first one that morning they brought the x-ray machine right into the room, and later had 3 more at the x-ray place. I lost count of how many x-rays there were. Later my O2 was 97% and the nurse said the lungs sounded great. Dr. Poore came back and told me that the x-rays showed a thin rim of air between the lung and the pleura, called a pneumo thorax? which the body will/should absorb. It did feel like bubbles bumping around inside there, kind of like when you have gas but in the wrong place. They didn't know if it was there this morning, they didn't see it on those pictures, That is why removing the tube had been so painful and that is one of the side effects he had described that could be a problem and cause pain. He wanted me to stay another night and get more x-rays in the morning. There needs to be 4 hours between each set of x-rays so they can see if that the hole in the lung was no longer leaking; i.e. wanted to see that the hole has sealed itself and that there was no active air loss. I agreed that I would rather stay than get three hours away and have a problem. Judi took the car and drove on home because her family is coming to visit this weekend. She left the car at Gina's house and if I could go home on Saturday, Gina will drive up and get me. I missed Judi not being there with me when she left, but they told me just to rest so I laid and dozed and watched old sitcoms. I didn't sleep well all the time I was there, just dozing off and waking up continually.
SATURDAY: Through the blinds I watched it storm out on the floodlit hospital grounds all night and morning. The wind was intermittently blowing the snow pretty good. The weather report wasn't predicted to be that bad until later that evening so I figured we would get home just fine. More x-rays by 7 a.m. Then the time just crept by until Dr. Poore came about 10 and said they looked o.k. and I could go home. Finally. I called Gina and she was on her way to get me. Dr. Meno also came in and gave me a check up and I was good to go. They..... my nurse that would fill out my papers and release me..... but had a surgical patient and I sat there a few more hours until she finished with that patient and came in, so decided it best to have a bite of lunch - some soup and toast. Gina got there and we must have waited more than another hour. But soon the nurse came and gave me all the information I needed, as had Dr. Poore. We were on our way home. The weather and roads were nasty right in Jackson, and then quickly got pretty good, eventually dry most of the way back to Pinedale. As usual I enjoyed the time visiting with Gina and am so glad for her friendship and support. We stopped at Gina's and they had Nube there in the corral with three of their other horses, so I got to see her from a distance. I wasn't up to trekking over to give her a treat, but glad to see her. Just drove myself on home from Gina's after filled up with gas. Got here about 4 p.m. I think and was glad to be home, good to see Joe and the dogs.
SUNDAY; Last night I slept about 9 hours straight without ever moving. That is unusual for me, and then slept three more hours. I must have been exhausted. Today has just been quiet. I did do a little bit of cleaning and a couple of meals. Spent the afternoon writing up the blog. Tonight I made some stew from leftovers with some biscuits and baked Joe some refrigerated dough peanut butter cookies while the oven was on. Have been walking my around-the-house path 10 minutes at a time.
My next chemo appointment is Tuesday January 29 so I don't have to go anywhere, knock on wood, until then. Charm says she will go with me that time. I leave the dressing on my back until Wednesday, sponge bath only until then and get the stitches out on the 29th. I need to call the dr. if I get pain, fever or chills. I'm going to stick my head over the utility sink in a while and get my hair washed. If I can't do it I'll ask Joe to scrub on it. I will be able to dry it.
A FUNNY STORY ON JUDI:
We all sure laughed about this one. The first day I was in the hospital Judi went "out" for a while. When she came back she went to "my room" and knocked and breezed in. The shower was going so she figured I was in there showering. She waited a very long time, and while she waited she noticed that things weren't right - stuff around that I didn't have, a robe across the bed, I was just finished with the surgery and couldn't have been showering, things just started not feeling right. She finally went and asked a nurse about my room number and I was in 120. The room she had been in was 122 - next door -and there was a man in there. She felt lucky she managed to get out before he finished his shower and came out .....without his robe on.
Judi
Gina Hooking up The "Hopefully Repaired" Computer
