Rocket Dog Molly

Okay – first I am going to put out there that this computer irritates the fire out of me – have been sitting here for five minutes waiting for this post page to load, typed half of this sentence and it has jumped screens several times already.  Anyway – this may be one of these paragraphs that takes me all day to finish depending on my level of patience.  YESTERDAY WAS WONDERFUL!!  We walked in at 8:15, walked back directly to the chemo area and we were on our way home by 12:45 pm.  No offense to Barnes, but it is like comparing apples and oranges, or more aptly, apples and prunes (for which I have an intensifying disgust latetly due to all the gastrointestinal drama as of late!)  The nurse (Lucy) was fantastic – compassionate, attentive and right there for anything (bathroom breaks, making sure I turned over at the appropriate intervals etc.)  We traded information – she gave me a pamphlet about the St. Louis ovarian cancer organization and I gave her info about this website in the hope that it will provide others with an outlet for their journey.  It is amazing how the diagnosis of “irritable bowel syndrome” keeps popping up in conversations.  I think the thing that really kicks my butt is that I even went to the gynecologist at one point convinced that endometriosis might be responsible for all of the gastrointestinal symptoms I have been having FOREVER and I was basically told that those symptoms were not his specialty.  I would love to turn all the misdiagnosed ladies out there loose on him.  One thing Lucy said they are doing is taking some of these patients to talks for first and second year med students (while they are still young, impressionable and NOT JADED) and telling their stories in hopes that when they (the doctors) hear these types of symptoms, they might actually consider doing the testing and pursuing things a little more thoroughly.  I know it matters not now, but I have decided to get all of my office visit notes and H&P’s from my doctor visits just for my knowledge to see just how long this has been punted around.  I know there was a comment in one record I have about irritable bowel type symptoms in 2000.  Hmmm, could the kudzu have been spreading that long?  Who know?  And it really truly makes no difference at this point but it would be interesting to know.  At least I might feel vindicated for all of the frustration and disgust I felt for not being taken seriously enough to do any further testing. There is only so much flippin’ fiber you can ingest after all!! Anyway, I think as the pamphlet said, you have to be aggressive and be your own advocate when you feel something is not right. I truly can say I only really had that feeling maybe over the last year but it has been hard to sort things out (at least as far as energy and strength go) because I felt pretty deconditioned after the two foot surgeries. I mean in that I wasn’t able to be as physically active either due to pain, or orthopedic boots or wheelchairs for that matter, so I felt like I wasn’t up to my usual level of energy but it seemed explainable at the time. I had noticed a decline in my appetite but again it seemed logical when juxtaposed against the decrease in activity level. I guess all I am saying is if you need to, take a electric cattle prod with you to the doctor and don’t be afraid to use it if they are being “namby-pamby” (one of my favorite Boston Legal phrases by the way). I am hoping that we will only have to stay overnight now on day 1 of the chemo cycle (I have to be there to see the doctor at 8:15 am). On day 8, I am scheduled in at 8:30 but I think it would be okay as long as I am there by 9:00 or 9:30 since the intraperitoneal chemo ran in so fast. A large part of that depends on the type of catheter that you have. When she started mine up, she knew right away it would go in really quickly – was rather a rivulet! That way, we can just leave out by about 5:30 am or so and still get there in time. We tried to schedule it out a little later but she said the doctor has to be on site while they are running the chemo and they do not stay there later in the afternoon. Either way, I think we can work this out okay. Will definitely help on the hotel bill! It’s weird though – it is getting to be a little like a home away from home. It is familiar and very comfortable. At least this time they put us on the downtown side of the building. We could see a little of the arch in the morning after all the London fog disappeared! I tried to talk Rube into going to the Galleria Mall on the way home to see all of the Christmas displays – was told by the little lady in the hotel cafe that it truly is beautiful. Given the traffic congestion we saw at that exit, I am glad we bypassed it!! Maybe it will still be up when we go January 5. Rube has decided to leave around 1:00 pm instead of 3 or 4 pm. Thank God! He scares me at 45 MPH on the interstate at times. In his defense though, the trip down this time was horrible. It was foggy, misting or pouring the entire way and there were a kajillion trucks trying to get the last minute deliveries done before Christmas so they were constantly spraying the windshield to the point of zero visibility. On top of that, I had to listen to Celine Dion’s Christmas CD most of the way. Enough said! Help!!!!

Hope you have a wonderful holiday -

Love to you All –

“Molly”

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 at 7:53 am and is filed under Cancer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.