Or do I begin by giving Thanks to Him for another absolutely stunning day here that we can enjoy before hurricane Sandy comes through our state?
Let's all begin by giving Thanks that we are here, healthy, able to take deep breaths to enjoy the crispness of Autumn. Look outside your window, or better yet, step outside your door/building and take it all in. I love this time of year.
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Now let's back up. Last weekend I felt pretty good, and then the nausea began around Monday of last week. It lasted until Wednesday when I decided it was time to go to the Traditional Chinese Medicine doc to get some herbs and acupuncture to see if it would get me out of my cycle. It worked, between the acupuncture and ginger root, I was feeling better by Thursday afternoon.
And then Andrew decided to swallow a penny. Mom runs to the phone and calls 911. The ambulance comes and takes us to Framingham Union hospital. And x-ray is done showing that it is lodged in his esophogus. Mom is freaking out. They say we have to go in town where there are more advanced teams who can deal with this. Mom freaks out even more. We wait for an ambulance to take us to Children's down town. They get us there by 10:00ish p.m. By midnight, they say there is no way they can get us any OR space to get it out. So they want to transfer us to the main floor (out of ER) where we will "sleep" until our 7:30 a.m. surgery. At 2:00a.m. they have to stick Andrew six, yes six times to get an IV in him. By then Mom sends Dad home to get the other kids up in the morning and ready for school and then to come back to the hospital after they are off to school.
I have to skip the story about Anna going missing now, as it is too much to have to relate. Rest assured she was fine, having fallen asleep at home under a pile of clothes in James room.
Back to Andrew - They get an IV in him and then they transfer us up to the main floor since he was "stable". He might have been, but Mom wasn't. As soon as they get us up there, Andrew throws up. Again, Mom freaks out. He was fine. So he falls asleep, while Mom watches him for two and a half hours until they come to get him for surgery.
As we are going down to pre-op at 6:30 a.m. I am thinking about my 8:00a.m. chemo appointment (just 1.5 hours away) just across the bridge at Dana Farber. Hmm...... The surgeon comes to talk to me. He calms me down and said that there was no reason for me to move my 8:00a.m. chemo, since Andrew will be in the OR, and then in the PACU recovering.
Friday, 7:30 a.m. - They take Andrew off to the OR, fast asleep, and then they wheel Mom across the bridge to my 8:00 a.m. chemo appointment. As Mom get's her chemo, I get a call saying that Andrew did well in surgery, and that the penny was safely extracted and that he was recovering nicely in the PACU. Dad had arrived having gotten the kids off to school, to take Andrew home. Andrew wakes up, happy as a clam as he gets to ingest as much ice cream and popsicles that he'd like. The blessing in all of this, he never had trouble breathing. The penny lodged itself perfectly up and down in the esophogus, not causing any problems.
My lovely neighbor, Selena came to the my chemo appointment to bring me home. We get home to find Andrew back to his self, and mom just relieved to be home.
Then a few other "angels" came over. One with lunch, one to help me clean up my home, and another with dinner and home made ice cream!
Where would I be without my "angels?" That night with the kids off to bed, we are just happy to be home and in our beds. I do believe I will sleep well as I hadn't slept the night before. You think that would be the case right? Well, the shoulder pain returns with a vengeance. I may have slept for a couple of hours and then I was up with some pretty excruciating pain. I call my surgeon at 7:00a.m. I tell him, of the extreme pain I'm having and wondering if it has to do with my chemo port. He agrees, that it could be that part of the port is hitting my diaphragm causing the pain. I ask him if there was any chance he could get me OR space that day to get the port out. He said it was highly unlikely, but he would try.
Blessing #2 in all of this, he got me OR space by 10:30 a.m that morning (Saturday). Even after two days of no sleep I was THRILLED and had so much energy! Once again, we shift the kids in multiple directions, and Nick get's me back to Brigham and Women to have the port surgically removed. As I sat in the pre-op room, I recounted yet another big blessing.
Blessing #3- I was surrounded in the pre-op room by 3 anesthesiologists, two nurses, my surgeon and his assistant. Just to have a port removed. In addition to the staff, I realized how incredibly blessed we are to be in a place where there are more than enough surgical supplies, medications, clean facilities, etc. to minister to our needs. How incredibly blessed are we? I remember reading a story how in Greece the supply shelves are empty, medications are hard to come by. How blessed are we? More then we'll ever know.
I come out of surgery feeling fine, and just plain happy that the port was gone. So happy. That night we even went to our churches dinner dance. Although we just went for the dinner portion. Greek dancing after surgery and two days with no sleep, just wasn't on the agenda. And that was okay. We were surrounded by friends and a lovely meal.
Last night I slept well. No shoulder pain, just a bit of pain from the incision. But manageable.
Today we spent a truly blessed day with the kids chasing the leaves as they were blowing off the trees. Raking them up and jumping in them. We picked out our pumpkin and even carved it today.
I need to once again to say THANK YOU to the multitude of "angels" who are supporting us through this journey. There is no way, I could be as strong as I am, if I didn't have your prayers and support.
I only ask that you take a moment as well, to realize the blessings in your lives. And to thank God, for those. Trust in His love for you. Trust in His abilities to carry you through any storm that comes your way. Put your lives in His hands. I know I have.
Love to you all,
Renee
--------------------------------------
Now let's back up. Last weekend I felt pretty good, and then the nausea began around Monday of last week. It lasted until Wednesday when I decided it was time to go to the Traditional Chinese Medicine doc to get some herbs and acupuncture to see if it would get me out of my cycle. It worked, between the acupuncture and ginger root, I was feeling better by Thursday afternoon.
And then Andrew decided to swallow a penny. Mom runs to the phone and calls 911. The ambulance comes and takes us to Framingham Union hospital. And x-ray is done showing that it is lodged in his esophogus. Mom is freaking out. They say we have to go in town where there are more advanced teams who can deal with this. Mom freaks out even more. We wait for an ambulance to take us to Children's down town. They get us there by 10:00ish p.m. By midnight, they say there is no way they can get us any OR space to get it out. So they want to transfer us to the main floor (out of ER) where we will "sleep" until our 7:30 a.m. surgery. At 2:00a.m. they have to stick Andrew six, yes six times to get an IV in him. By then Mom sends Dad home to get the other kids up in the morning and ready for school and then to come back to the hospital after they are off to school.
I have to skip the story about Anna going missing now, as it is too much to have to relate. Rest assured she was fine, having fallen asleep at home under a pile of clothes in James room.
Back to Andrew - They get an IV in him and then they transfer us up to the main floor since he was "stable". He might have been, but Mom wasn't. As soon as they get us up there, Andrew throws up. Again, Mom freaks out. He was fine. So he falls asleep, while Mom watches him for two and a half hours until they come to get him for surgery.
As we are going down to pre-op at 6:30 a.m. I am thinking about my 8:00a.m. chemo appointment (just 1.5 hours away) just across the bridge at Dana Farber. Hmm...... The surgeon comes to talk to me. He calms me down and said that there was no reason for me to move my 8:00a.m. chemo, since Andrew will be in the OR, and then in the PACU recovering.
Friday, 7:30 a.m. - They take Andrew off to the OR, fast asleep, and then they wheel Mom across the bridge to my 8:00 a.m. chemo appointment. As Mom get's her chemo, I get a call saying that Andrew did well in surgery, and that the penny was safely extracted and that he was recovering nicely in the PACU. Dad had arrived having gotten the kids off to school, to take Andrew home. Andrew wakes up, happy as a clam as he gets to ingest as much ice cream and popsicles that he'd like. The blessing in all of this, he never had trouble breathing. The penny lodged itself perfectly up and down in the esophogus, not causing any problems.
My lovely neighbor, Selena came to the my chemo appointment to bring me home. We get home to find Andrew back to his self, and mom just relieved to be home.
Then a few other "angels" came over. One with lunch, one to help me clean up my home, and another with dinner and home made ice cream!
Where would I be without my "angels?" That night with the kids off to bed, we are just happy to be home and in our beds. I do believe I will sleep well as I hadn't slept the night before. You think that would be the case right? Well, the shoulder pain returns with a vengeance. I may have slept for a couple of hours and then I was up with some pretty excruciating pain. I call my surgeon at 7:00a.m. I tell him, of the extreme pain I'm having and wondering if it has to do with my chemo port. He agrees, that it could be that part of the port is hitting my diaphragm causing the pain. I ask him if there was any chance he could get me OR space that day to get the port out. He said it was highly unlikely, but he would try.
Blessing #2 in all of this, he got me OR space by 10:30 a.m that morning (Saturday). Even after two days of no sleep I was THRILLED and had so much energy! Once again, we shift the kids in multiple directions, and Nick get's me back to Brigham and Women to have the port surgically removed. As I sat in the pre-op room, I recounted yet another big blessing.
Blessing #3- I was surrounded in the pre-op room by 3 anesthesiologists, two nurses, my surgeon and his assistant. Just to have a port removed. In addition to the staff, I realized how incredibly blessed we are to be in a place where there are more than enough surgical supplies, medications, clean facilities, etc. to minister to our needs. How incredibly blessed are we? I remember reading a story how in Greece the supply shelves are empty, medications are hard to come by. How blessed are we? More then we'll ever know.
I come out of surgery feeling fine, and just plain happy that the port was gone. So happy. That night we even went to our churches dinner dance. Although we just went for the dinner portion. Greek dancing after surgery and two days with no sleep, just wasn't on the agenda. And that was okay. We were surrounded by friends and a lovely meal.
Last night I slept well. No shoulder pain, just a bit of pain from the incision. But manageable.
Today we spent a truly blessed day with the kids chasing the leaves as they were blowing off the trees. Raking them up and jumping in them. We picked out our pumpkin and even carved it today.
I need to once again to say THANK YOU to the multitude of "angels" who are supporting us through this journey. There is no way, I could be as strong as I am, if I didn't have your prayers and support.
I only ask that you take a moment as well, to realize the blessings in your lives. And to thank God, for those. Trust in His love for you. Trust in His abilities to carry you through any storm that comes your way. Put your lives in His hands. I know I have.
Love to you all,
Renee
