Highway to Heaven (Hoback Actually) taken by GinaGET READY FOR AMAZING NEWS, AND SEE HOW YOUR PRAYERS, BLESSINGS AND POSITIVE THOUGHTS HAVE MADE A HUGH CHANGE IN MY RECOVERY!! THANKS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT AND DEAR HEAVENLY FATHER, THE LORD MY GOD!! THANK YOU ALL WHO PLACED ME ON A PRAYER LIST OR GAVE A BLESSING OR OFFERED A PRAYER OR TWO AND HAVE BEEN THERE IN SUPPORT AND FRIENDSHIP.
Got up about 5 a.m. Showered, did my hair and dressed. The no food or drink order simplified things by not having any breakfast etc. Joe got the SUV out of the garage and warming up for me and off I went to town. (I meant to leave one of those Banquet frozen crock pot meals in the crock pot for Joe and never even went in the kitchen, and forgot all about doing that. I don't know what he ate later, probably cereal.)
The temperature was about minus 16 at home the first time I looked. In the car my temperature went everywhere from that to minus 21 to minus 34 for a while and kept going up and down. There was fog, sometimes thick and then you would drive out of it and it was totally clear with stars above, or it was thin and just over the top of the car. Where Frosty had cleared our road was the best traveling all the way to the pavement. When I got to the turn at our mailbox the county road obviously hadn't been cleared yet, although I had seen a snowplow head over the hill toward the Parkinson Place about sunset on Sunday. It did have a one lane path cleared that had since been snowed on, so one of our neighbors with a plow had likely gone down the road. It was certainly better than no track at all. And there were a few new vehicle tracks through those drifts so I was o.k. I stopped at the mailbox, trudged over to stick a couple of letters in and that snow was over my boots. Found that plowed part of the road only went to the corner intersection and then just some tracks through about 8" or so new snow. Stayed in 4WD to the cattle guard on the paved county road where it had been cleared and switched to Auto 4WD which is a good safety feature of the car, it will automatically go into 4WD if it needs to. On to Boulder and the main highway and that was nearly dry. There I was facing a solid stream of vehicles heading south,which was workers heading for the oilfield.
Got to Gina's house about 6, and took in the pie I baked them. She showed me a painting she had been working on and asked for an opinion, so we talked about that a little bit. Bob had already left for his plowing job at the airport.
We got on our way just as it began to show a little daylight. Roads were good through this section and we saw no deer. As usual when you hit The Rim the road conditions changed there, and I always slow down and gear down to go down that hill in case there are any surprises. The road was more snow packed than icy. By now there was more daylight. Gina saw two moose on the hill to the north, probably a cow and a calf. On to Bondurant and by then the sun was rising and the colors in the sky and on the deep new snow on the mountains was pretty spectacular. Driving along the river was beautiful as usual with lots of snow on the trees and the highest peaks with lots of color. (Click on her link I placed in my last entry to see some of Gina's photos.) Soon we saw a herd of elk, maybe 50 plus or minus. I only saw a couple of them because I was driving but Gina saw lots. Next at Cabin Creek we saw the herd of bighorn sheep up on the hill above the river. Special visual gifts.
On into Jackson and got to the hospital about 9 a.m., half hour early for the surgery to put the Bardport in my chest. They took us right in and to the room where I changed into a gown. Signed forms and got the IV going for just saline solution at the moment. Saw quite a few people who would be in surgery with me, including the doctor and anesthesiologist, more nurses, etc. Dr. Poore and I visited. (He was the one who found the tumor in the first place when he did the endoscopy .) I asked him about the stomach pain I'd been having the the constipation and he suggested using Miralax. Surgery was still not until 11, so we laid/sat there for two hours when they took me on in to be ready for that. They told Gina they would call her in about an hour, but it was more like two and a half hours. She was able to visit with an acquaintance in the waiting room. They started the sleepytime stuff and I drifted off and did not know that the person in surgery ahead of me took a couple of hours longer before they took me in. When Gina told me what time it was later I was very surprised, not realizing how much time had gone by.
The surgery seemed to go well, but was more than I had been led to believe. Also the IV had leaked back into my hand and it was very swollen. They told me to put hot packs on it at home. Anyway when I woke up and dressed again, we went on into Oncology for my chemo treatment. As Gina said, I was pretty drugged up, also more than I expected, and although felt awake was spacing stuff out and kind of groggy. I started drinking more fluids. They took blood out of the port right away for the blood work by sticking a small "needle" with a little butterfly shaped valve through my skin into the port (just the little needle goes in, I guess the valve accepts the IV. Waited for those results and for the chemo cocktail to arrive. They got the IV drip going through the port and then the chemo drip started.
Dr. Meno came and gave me a check up. I just like him so much. He agreed that I should take the Miralax that Dr. Poore recommended and said it was the best thing we have. (Why haven't I known that any sooner?) I knew we would get the results of the monthly tumor marker test C-19-9 this time, and Carol handed him the page with that result. So he told me what that was. "Below normal" he said. "It can't get any better than this." Still in a drug induced stupor, I know I asked "What does it mean? He said,"It's Wonderful!"
In SLC 11/19 it was 170; on 12/3 it was 132; on 12/31 it is 33 (with normal being less than 37.) The liver and bile readings are also down again.
When I should have been dancing down the room and back, it was as hard for me to believe this news as when the Dr's. at the hospital in SLC had said I may have only three months to live, maybe one of them even said six weeks. I was speechless. Gina told me later Dr. Meno said "She's still out of it." And later I was so worried that he had thought I was weird for not being more joyous. But immediately I was thinking of all the prayers, blessings and support that I've received - that they worked. It seems miraculous. As well as how what the nurses at chemo and the doctors have done and of all the medical intricacies that have worked in such a short time. There is still so much that is unknown about what it does mean for the future. I don't know what it means yet. Two days later I'm still totally amazed and thankful. It's an awesome feeling.
Gina went to KMart drug store again and got the new pain and nausea meds and the Miralax for me. Then we ordered some sandwiches for lunch and ate while the chemo finished. I think by then it was 3:30 or something. Soon the drip finished and we headed home through the twilight. I was arguing that I could drive home from Gina's house or Boulder, but she kept saying that she would drive me all the way home and Bob would follow to drive her back home. And that she had signed a release at the hospital that she would drive me. As we got near her place I realized I did not feel at all like I should be driving and was very glad for her offer to bring me home. I was like a wrung out dish rag. We stopped to let Bob know we were back and Gina drove me all the way home. That added another two hours to her day, and Bob's too, as he had been driving the snow plow most of the day.
We drove right by Frosty's house and I didn't remember to drop off his pie, so told Joe he could have it. I'll make Frosty another one later. At home I shuffled up the steps and into the house. They wouldn't come in for tea or anything. When I looked in the mirror later there was a frightful sight. I got some tomato soup and toast fixed for dinner. Took the night time meds and went to bed.
I kept thinking that the procedure was more than I expected and was very sore in the upper left chest about the size of two palms. There is a 2" incision with 5 stitches and another 2 stitches above those. There is bruising and swelling. You can feel the port and tubes under the skin just below the collar bone. The chest area had a very heavy feeling and pained through to my back. But with the pain pill I was able to sleep pretty well anyway.
