The heart test and port surgery were only supposed to take a couple hours, we thought we would be home by noon...unfortunately, things did not go as planned so we finally made it home around 5. The test was no big deal except for once again the tech could not get a vein for the IV..after several attempts he called in the expert and she got it on the first try. Once the test was over we walked over and started prepping for the port insertion. My nurse, Pat, was an angel and had me ready for surgery in no time. Because I was having local anesthesia I was able to chat with everyone in the operating room which made me more comfortable. Then they gave me the good stuff and I don't remember much after that. After surgery I found out that things did not go very well. The port was to be inserted above my left breast but after several tries they were not able to access the vein so they moved to the right side. After a couple tries they got the vein but somewhere in this process they knicked the lining of my lung which caused a sack to develop. The surgeon explained that they were not very concerned but they wanted to observe me for a couple hours and take another x-ray before discharging me. Bret was feeling miserable from an upper resp. infection, but he took good care of me. We finally got another x-ray and saw the doc again around 3:00. He said the tear had not changed much so they wanted me to go home and rest and come back tomorrow for another x-ray. I was glad to be getting out of there but once we started getting ready to leave my blood pressure crashed and I felt very sick. We continued to go through this for another hour until I finally felt well enough to leave. On the way home it hit me again and I vomited in the car but we finally made it home and I crashed in bed for the evening. Tyler took great care of me while Bret and Jillian went to get checked out. They both have upper respiratory infections so they are now on meds. Jillian and I ended the evening by watching the Charlie Brown Halloween special which is my all time favorite...the bright spot of the day!!!
It was a pretty emotional day for me. Getting so sick made me really dread the chemo. Pat and Bret were so good to listen to me, encourage me to be strong and wipe away the many tears throughout the day. This day was certainly one of those "road bumps" that I knew we would run into so I just pray that God will continue to give me the strength to just get through each one. I cried tonight when I read all the sweet messages....your constant support, encouragement and prayers give me the strength to keep going...thank you so much!!!!
5 comments:
Jan,
Ok...you just made me cry!!! I wish things had gone better for you today. Wish I could come over right now and give you a big hug!!! Although you might get mad at me for waking you up since it's 1:13am!!! :) You know you can always count on me to send messages at this time of day!
Keep your head up and keep being strong. I know you will beat this thing.
I will check back in with you tomorrow to see how you are and how the doctor appt. went.
Much love to you and the family. We will continue to pray for you all.
Sheryl
I'm glad the day is over for you too...it's so hard to read about you having a bad day and not being close enough to come give you a hug or keep you company!! Hang in there!! I know Halloween is one of your favorite times, so try to focus on that today. I know you are worried about tomorrow, but try to put it out of your mind. I can't wait to see pictures of Jillian and Tyler dressed up! Will you post them for us? Take care and call me when you get a chance. Love ya! Linda
HAPPY HALLOWEEN Jan! You know how that kills me to say that (hehe)... I too know how you love Halloween and I think back of your garage all set up for "professional" pictures taken of my kids in their not-so-original costumes! :) Nothings changed in that dept! Anyway, so sorry to hear of the issues of your day yesterday! I'm glad you got a good nurse, and you were able to converse with them throughout the procedure to make things easier for you! Will anxiously await hearing how your appt. goes today and hopefully that hasn't changed! I'm sure you're looking forward to Mom and Dad coming by. Know that I think of you and pray for you daily. God gives us the strength we need - through good times and bad. He's always there for us! Sometimes walking beside us, in the hard times - carrying us! Love you girl! Sue
O.K., one nasty day out of the way! Hopefully the others will go better. Good luck today and know that tomorrow you will be on all of our minds constantly praying that you get through the day. I know it has to be hard at this point, but just keep fighting and take one step at a time. There will be a day when all of this will be done and you will be able to live your life as you want!
love you,
Kay
Jan,
Whew, what a day you had yesterday! Glad it's behind you. As you said, you will have road bumps on this big, messy journey -- and you just got done with one of them! You are in my thoughts and prayers!
Much love,
janie
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