The kids and I have been doing some Christmas crafts around here and we were working on one earlier but both kids were getting pretty cranky so we'll finish it later. I'll post after it's done. Pretty cute though!
I've had a good couple of appointments since my last post. My counts are staying about the same, not the best but not too low.
This last Tuesday I had a full day. My day started out at 7:30 for bloodwork, 8:30 oncology appointment, 9-ish chemo, then Justin and I went for lunch, and I had a followup with my radiation oncologist at Methodist at 11:30 and then my 16th spinal tap was scheduled for 12:30.
Everything went good at Dr. Vukov's office. My followup with Dr. Carpenter went well also. But he's concerned over the issue with my left eye and having the "floater". He made a referral for me to go see Dr. Catherine Cuite because he's worried I might have a detached retina from the radiation. I tried my best to explain to him how it is to me and then I came across this picture online and it is a pretty good example of what I'm seeing. It's especially visibile while focusing on bright and solid colors.
After that appointment I went up to radiology. I got there and did the routine pregnancy test which must be done before proceeding. Then the nurse asked if I had a preference on which doctor did the procedure and I told her Dr. Chee. She said I lucked out and he was there but in another procedure but could most likely do mine if I waited a little longer. So, I did - about 30 minutes longer and Cliff from Radiology came and got me to go back. I'm very fond of Cliff, he's been in for every spinal tap except for one and he's always been so kind and calming. One reason I like Dr. Chee so much is that he's very personable, he talks about his kids and asks about ours and so on. And another reason is he's the fastest of the four doctors I've had there but he really tries to make sure I'm numb before proceeding. He will numb me up with lidocaine and rub the spot for a few minutes and then numb it some more. And then for the procedure itself he has me lay with my body a little tilted and always goes in between the L4/L5 vertabrae. From there he has to take the bigger needle and puncture the fluid filled sac to get to the spinal fluid, from there he removes the fluid and then inserts the chemo Methotrexate. The whole procedure doesn't take too long but the worst part of the whole thing is trying to get through all my built up scar tissue. Every doctor that has done this on me has that issue. And then I'm off to recovery for an hour and then discharged.
Tuesday is always our super busy day, especially when I have all these things crammed in and Aly also has dance that night. So since I had my spinal I had to come home and rest and Justin took Aly to dance (and Connor went to bed early) and it was also pajama night/watch week. But I know from previous experiences, if I don't go lay right back down I will have a horrible headache the next day (that usually will last about a week). So I stayed home and took it easy and didn't get a headache.
The weather was decent this last Sunday so I went to Bloomington and took a pretty Christmas wreath for my Mom's grave. It was so hard. As soon as I turned on the road to get to the cemetary I lost it. Justin asked if I wanted him to go with but I just needed to do this by myself. And I knew I was going to have a long week and didn't know if I would be able to make it back in before Christmas. It was so hard. Not having her here for Christmas is definitely not going to be easy, I know that. But I just keep reminding myself that she's not in pain anymore and is in a better place. But I miss her so much.
I wish we would get some snow. Yes, I really did just say that. We've had a ton of rain lately it seems and here we are right before Christmas with no snow. I've never really cared too much for snow but since we've had kids and just how excited they get over it, I like it (just not 5 feet of it!). Last week we had a tiny bit come down and I knew Connor was already asleep in his room but Aly was awake in hers so I ran in and got her and showed her it on our deck and she was just in heaven! Her eyes just lit up! And it was all gone by the next afternoon.
Well, other than all that not too much has been going on. Just busy around here like usual. Trying to get the rest of the Christmas stuff done. It's going to be here very soon!
Hope everyone is having a Happy December!
Kim
