Where Did She Go?

I've been out of commission but haven't been far. Since my last post on April 28th, I found myself going downhill fast. This led to my disappearance for a 9 day stay at the Ottawa Hospital.

By Friday the 30th, I was really starting to not feel great. Later that day the nurse from the hospital had ordered at home hydration by IV which was possible given the port was installed that week. Long and short, my fever came on Sunday afternoon and jumped from 38.2 to 38.9 in less than an hour. The time had come to go to the hospital. They insist as soon as your temperature rises above 38 you need to go straight to emergency. Not something I really wanted to do but the pain was also at a point that I couldn't stand it anymore.

We stared at the Civic Campus and quickly learned that they do not accept oncology patients for admission so I needed to be transferred to the General Hospital for care.

Initially the were concerned that I had a bowel obstruction and the word surgery came into play which sent me off the edge. NO surgery for this kid right now! They decided to treat with IV antibiotics and see if the obstructions would move on their own which eventually they did. Within a few days of antibiotics the fever was gone but my entire colon was enlarged and infected. They continued with antibiotics and things started turning for the better. During this entire period they had me in isolation so everyone that came to see me had to dress up like a man from outer space! This as well as being admitted to the oncology floor ruled out the possibility of the kids coming to see me.

With Mother's Day fast approaching and it didn't look like the isolation would be removed I had to insist they either let me out to visit the kids on Sunday or they had to let them in. They went to the nursing manager and confirmed only Braedon could come in because he is 12 but that Kenzie could not. That left one option, get me out of jail for a few hours to visit with the kids. They gave me a three hour pass on Sunday so we went and had lunch at Scott's office (close to the hospital) and then went to Chapter's for a tea and the kids had a chance to pick up a few books. A three hour pass didn't leave enough time to drive home, have time together and then return so we made the best of our time in the East end of town.

In the end they confirmed that this was all a severe reaction to chemotherapy and nothing more. They had me in isolation from day one and only confirmed yesterday that they had ruled out any other cause. Strangely enough they couldn't get past the fact that I was in Mexico twice in April and felt certain they were going to find something related to my trip.

My oncologist stopped in to see me at the hospital for a minute and confirmed that he will find a chemo treatment that I won't react to this way again. He said it isn't unusual for side effects but that this reaction was severe. I am not clear on what this does for my clinical trial. I assume they will be taking me off or at least changing the drugs and doses I get. For sure I know they will not repeat this cocktail so any forward advance in treatment doses for the trial will not be an option for me. I am confident that a cocktail will work and it will just be finding the right one.

My next appointment is with my oncologist May 17th, and I am currently scheduled for chemotherapy again on May 18th.

Today I am feel a 100x better and I am home which matters most. Thanks for all the cards and kind words again everyone.

Talk soon,
Karen

PS ~ hoping for a round of golf this weekend