Damn Gall Bladder

For once, I ended up in the ER for something unrelated to my brain – not that I enjoy being there at all. The only – ONLY! – nice thing about being in the hospital is the adjustable beds. That’s it. And maybe the dilaudid.

Apparently my paternal grandmother had her gall bladder out, but I don’t know if that matters genetically. We thought at first that the gall bladder attack/stones may be related to the Avastin infusions, but my oncologist said that it would’ve taken longer to develop the stones than I’ve been on the Avastin. 

Just lucky, I guess. :-/ Also, my oncologist put the halt on them removing my gall bladder because of the bleeding risk from the Avastin. So… I still have all of my organs.

And now I’m further restricted, which pisses me off the most. I wasn’t able to eat anything even mildly spicy to begin, and now I can’t have anything that isn’t low fat. They’re just trying to take away all of my fun.

I think it’ll be a good week before I get this tape residue off and before the iv bruise goes away (Not real pleased I even had to get an IV, but it was the wrong gauge needle in my port for CT contrast].

N. is a saint for always being right by my side, through all of this bullshit. Apparently having aggressive, incurable brain cancer isn't enough.

Just another day in paradise …

Fight like Hell. 

[Yesterday vs. August 2015]

Unexpected ER Trip

Well, today did not go as planned. We were supposed to be doing Shop with a Cop this morning, but instead ended up with an impromptu ER visit. Hurray.

In my last post, I mentioned a botched port accessing; since they weren’t able to use my port for the MRI last Monday, they ended up putting an IV in a vein in my left wrist joint. That in itself is not pleasant. I noticed yesterday morning that my left forearm was super sore. By yesterday evening, my arm was to the point where I couldn’t touch it without pain, and it was starting to have red splotches. I realized that from the point there they put in the IV and straight up my forearm was exactly where the pain and redness were.

N. reminded me that my oncologist had told us that because I’m receiving Avastin infusions that any sign of blood clots should be an ER visit. In the world of Avastin patients, I’m at a pretty low risk of having blood clots. But … that’s not something with which you mess around. N. called our neurosurgery contact, and they said we should go to the ER just to be safe. Unlike our last ER visit, it was deserted. We got into a room right away, and they sent me up to Ultrasound almost immediately. The ultrasound hurt like a &!@#%. It showed that I did not have a blood clot, though. They diagnosed me with superficial Thrombophlebitis and lymphangitis [inflammation of superficial veins and inflammation of the lymph nodes in that area] … from that lovely wrist joint IV I got stabbed with last Monday. I've lost count of how many time I've been stabbed for an IV since November 2008 [the start of the first go round], but I've never had anything more than a small bruise from an IV.

Needless to say, the American Center Imaging Department is on my shit list, and I will never attempt to get an MRI there again — Always, always at the main UW hospital. 

I’ll be on an antibiotic regimen for the next 10 days. Between that, elevation, and warm compresses, I should kick this. In the meantime … frick, my arm hurts.

On a happier note, it seems like my hair is starting to grow back a little. Also, our foster kittens were adopted together today. We have them for the week, but once we bring them to the adoption center on Friday, they'll go to their forever home. I'm happy that the little poofs will stay together, so that they won't be lonely. I imagine that we'll be getting a couple more kittens for our next foster round. :D    

         

Fight like Hell.