2nd AC chemo

My youngest sister Karen went with me to chemo today and I was relieved to have the same excellent male nurse I had last time.  After coming home and resting for a little while, I wanted to go to the New Year's Eve service at the meditation center, but I didn't think I should drive.  Thankfully, my neighbor offered to go with me.  At the end of the service, everyone wrote down all the thoughts we wanted to release.  Then we completed a walking meditation to a fire pit, where we threw our released thoughts. It was very powerful and I felt very strong and relaxed as I went to sleep, saying goodbye to 2013.

1st AC chemo

After several false starts, it felt good to finally have the first chemo treatment underway.  The UNC hospitals infusion center is very comfortable, full of natural light, and well staffed with excellent nurses.  I had a male nurse with a military background - I've consistently found I really like the manner of these nurses, and I felt fortunate to have him assigned to me.  Maybe it's because I think about the likelihood that they've seen circumstances so much worse than mine, it helps to keep things in perspective.

Home health

I worked in home health for five years, so it's interesting to be a patient.  I'm "homebound" for infection control purposes, which means I can't leave home for two weeks except for medical appointments.

The timing at the end of the semester is a bit difficult, but thankfully my students can post all their assignments online, so I can easily do my grading from home.

Hospital Discharge

I met all the criteria for going home (normal lab work, home health set up for monitoring my wound care).  I received excellent care but I was quite happy to get out of there.  Now I have to do twice daily dressing changes for about two weeks before I can start chemo.  It's hard having the onset of chemo delayed but I'm relieved to know that the wound is "clean" now and will heal the way it's supposed to.

Re-opening the Wound

In the morning, a surgical oncology fellow came to see me.  She asked me in a scolding tone why they had drained my seroma and inserted a drainage catheter.  She asked me if I had any pain or sign of infection.  I said no, I had discomfort, but not pain, and I didn't know why they decided to drain it. She said any time any insertion takes place it introduces a risk of infection, and a seroma is normal and will go away on its own.  I told her I had no way of knowing this and that maybe they should have had a doctor examine me, instead of a nurse.

She told me my options were to get another drainage catheter or to open and drain the abscess.  I said I wanted them to do the most aggressive possible thing to resolve the issue because I was stuck in a no man's land between diagnosis and treatment, and my chemo had already been postponed multiple times.  She told me I would have to have twice daily wound care and asked me if I could do it.  It would be impossible to maneuver your hands to do that to yourself, so it was a bit of an odd question, but I told her I was confident someone would help me with it.  She said the operating room was fully booked due to the holiday weekend, and they would try to get me in as an "add-on," but it might need to wait until the next day.

About an hour later, another resident came in.  He said they had called my surgeon and he told them they could perform the procedure in my room.  My regular nurse told me the resident was excellent and would do a great job.  He returned a little later with a cart and a surgical nurse to assist him.  The procedure was done under local anesthetic and afterward I immediately felt very relieved.

My ex-husband brought my son to visit me later and while they were there the nurse came in to perform wound care.  I told my son it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he wanted to go out in the hall while they did that, but he decided to stay in the room.  I felt very proud of him.  It also made me realize that he wants to have all the facts and information about what is going on.

Admitted

As soon as I woke up, I knew the infection was definitely worse.   A large area around the surgical site was red and inflamed.  But I had plans to go to the Won Buddhism Meditation Temple with my brother, sister and my stepfather who was visiting from Michigan, for a Thanksgiving Ceremony of Remembrance in memory of our mother.  We also planned to go to lunch after that.  So I went to the service, which was wonderful (although I was a bit distracted), and when we got to the restaurant, I called the oncologist on call.

The oncologist told me I should come to the ER and plan to be admitted. So I finished my lunch, asked my brother to take my son to get a Christmas tree (which we had planned to do after lunch), and I went to the ER.

It took 3 hours for me get out of triage and into the ER.  However, once I got to the back, this time I had a private room in the ER, with a TV, and I was able to watch a Barbra Streisand concert while they started me on an IV antibiotic.  My brother came to wait with me until I was transferred to a hospital room.  I told him I felt bad to be in that room, because I wasn't really hurt like some of the people in the open areas.  He told me to just try to practice being grateful, which was the main lesson of the Ceremony of Remembrance.

I was taken to an ultrasound lab where the technician confirmed that I now had a fully infected abscess. Looking at the image, I could see the abscess and a line going straight out the hole where the drainage catheter had been inserted.

I was admitted to the surgical oncology floor, which has 24 beds.  The room was very large and well equipped and the area was very quiet.  I felt fortunate to be there rather than in a small regular room in the noisy main hospital.  I thought about how worried my son must be and I prayed for him to sleep well and not worry.  My sleep was fairly interrupted by IVs beeping, blood draws, and vital signs, but overall I was relieved to finally get the problem taken care of.