One person's curse is another person's blessing

We have a number of friends who are not fond of our mild (thus far) winter. The ice isn't thick enough on many lakes and rivers to skate on much less drive across; several drownings and near-drownings have occurred in the past couple weeks. Brown grass is not conducive to cross country skiing. No majestic icicles, very few days of watching snow slowly blanket the ground, and no fools getting tongues stuck on frozen metal objects. Boring indeed for them.

For us, the mild winter has been a blessing. Lucy has been battling leg swelling and blood clots for several weeks and didn't have to additionally battle snow and ice. She was on a weekly chemotherapy regimen until January, and there have been a number of medical appointments we attended on dry roads. Anyway, last year we had nearly double our seasonal snowfall and had some brutal -20°F mornings. Maybe Mother Nature was tired from last year? Today's snowfall was little more than a dusting, but at least our neighbors could have a bonfire without burning down the neighborhood.

Lucy's aunt and uncle, Ardelle and Dale, were here for a visit yesterday afternoon. They brought some stew Lucy's sister Julie had made plus a couple other goodies. It was nice seeing them!

Lucy's left leg is puffing up very slightly and she has a rash on it from the capillaries under the skin ballooning up. Her right leg is almost the same circumference as her left leg and the reddish hue is fading. The skin peeling has almost completed. She is able to walk a few steps without her walker albeit slowly and with some discomfort. Her right ankle still does not have full range of motion and may not for another few days. One of the catheters inserted into her leg was inserted in her ankle. There is still some bruising in the area which is probably the cause of her ankle stiffness. As such, driving is still out of the question for her.

The rash and swelling is not a set back. She had a lot of fluids pumped into her during her hospital stay. Now that she is moving around, those fluids are getting flushed. Lucy still is not as physically active as she was, so there will be some lymph pooling, too. She is maintaining the physical therapy exercises she was doing in the hospital and moving around the house as much as possible.

We are noticing Lucy's energy level is decreasing and she's puffing a little after walking around. That usually indicates her hemoglobin count is dropping. She had her blood work done for the Coumadin dosing and was told to stay the course. A Complete Blood Count (CBC) is also drawn. Since nothing was said about her hemoglobin, we're assuming it to be above 7.5.

Today started the busy week of appointments. Her other appointments are Valentine's Day (PET scan), Thursday (oncologist and hopefully a treatment) and Friday (hematologist). At some point she needs to renew her driver's license. That might be Wednesday.

Enjoy your evening and thanks for your support!

Home sweet home

Yesterday was spent getting settled in at home. Lucy wanted to how her ankle would react to the home setting. That went better than either of us expected. No problems navigating with the walker, she can stand for more than a couple minutes, and she has cut way back on the pain meds. She is still doing her physical therapy exercises and her energy level is still pretty good.

Today we took a trip to Lions Tap in Eden Prairie. It got her out of the house for a bit, they have great burgers, and she had a birthday coupon. We took her walker along, but it turned out she managed OK without it. I noticed she didn't need much support when I held her arm. She still has discomfort in her ankle and her knee is still a touch stiff. There is no way she can drive yet. Her leg bothers her more if she sits for extended periods of time.

Tomorrow she has some blood tests to ensure her Coumadin dose is still correct. The test is later in the afternoon so the results may not be known until Friday.

We know this posting isn't as action packed as the hospital posts, but we're having a lot more fun!

Sunday, Sunday

The yellow bouquet is from Steve and Liz, the elephant is from Diane and the pink rose bouquet is from Anh-Thu and Karen. And yes, the flash on my phone camera stinks. Motorola puts a 5 megapixel camera on the phone and uses a kid's toy LED for the flash. Go figure.

Lucy had a chorus of nurses and nurse's assistants come in and sing "Happy Birthday" to her this morning. That was really nice! Steve and Liz brought a strawberry tart cake. Julie and Suzy came by for a few hours, so Lucy had all her siblings here. Everyone got to see Lucy go for a walk with the Occupational Therapy person. Lucy also had someone from Physical Therapy come by. They worked on some exercises and Lucy has some new ones to add to the mix. Lucy's dad called to wish her happy birthday and see how she was doing. Lucy didn't wear a hat or scarf today so everyone got to see how much hair she has. I think that is the first time she went "topless" since she lost her hair in the first cycle of chemo.

Suzy and Julie did get to see Lucy's leg and it may have been a bit unpleasant. Lucy assured them it was a lot worse and much more painful eleven days ago. Her leg looks like it had a sunburn with a little peeling in a couple areas. There are areas on her lower leg where the color is getting towards normal. Her leg is slightly warm to the touch rather than hot. She has full sensation in her leg and it is not painful to touch it.

Dr. Singh came by to check on Lucy's progress. Lucy's Chromogenic Factor X reading today was in therapeutic range. She will have the heperin drop through the night and will have blood drawn for another test tomorrow. The results will be back in the early afternoon. If the Chromogenic Factor X test is in the therapeutic range again, Lucy could be discharged. The transfusion last night took her hemoglobin up to 10.7. It's been awhile since it was close to normal.

We will have some questions for the discharge meeting. There will need to be some appointments set up to test her blood. The hospital will lend her a walker for a week or two. We will also need a list of symptoms that necessitate a call to the doctor or a trip to the hospital. It is very possible Lucy will need to extend her disability leave another week.

There is a minor issue with pain management that still needs resolution. Lucy knows that she will not be totally pain free tomorrow. It will take a week or two for her leg to get back to normal. Her pain increases when she puts weight on her ankle. After she sits down, the pain starts subsiding. It sounds like the pain increase is not much. She describes it as annoying when she walks. It does not keep her awake at night and it does not distract her when she is sitting with her leg propped up. Lucy has been fortunate to never require hospitalization until her surgery in April 2010. She has never broken a bone or needed stitches. All the stuff she is going through is uncharted waters to her. It's hard for her to describe what type of pain, or how much pain she feels. Now that she has told them when she feels an increase in pain and when it starts to diminish, some of the concerns have abated.

We're cautiously optimistic about her going home tomorrow. It really depends on the blood test. Please keep your fingers crossed for her!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes today! Lucy is lucky to have such an amazing group of supporters!

Room with a View

I have been parking in the Skyway Ramp and I walk past this stained glass panel every day. The flash on my phone's camera causes a lot of flare. The gnome is not lighting flatulence (though he looks guilty) and the owl is not looking for the culprit.

Lucy took a short walk this morning. It helps clear the fog of the pain pills. Her leg color has gotten noticeably better in the past day. Her right calf circumference is within 3 cm. (about 1.2") of her left calf. She says her ankle is stiff but is getting a bit more range of motion. Lucy has been working on her physical therapy exercises. Her Braden risk bracelet was removed because she is more active and her skin can air out.

Dr. Singh from Minnesota Oncology came by. Lucy was moved back to 8^th floor this afternoon. Her hemoglobin dropped after yesterday's increase so she will be getting a two unit transfusion. This means the four transfusions she has had since being admitted have required eight units of blood. She will be here until Monday at the earliest. The rest of the blood work sounded OK. Her Coumadin dosage was dropped to 2.5 mg and they did not have to administer a quick "blast" of heperin (called a bolus). We hope this means she is getting close to being removed from the IV heperin and her Coumadin dose is getting set.

I did get to take Lucy to the Meditation Sanctuary before she was moved. We used a wheelchair because it was a quick trip. She liked the fireplace and water feature. Changing her scenery also helped.

The view from her room is great. For those of you in the Twin Cities area, she overlooks Crosstown and France Ave. The fog lifted and the sun came out and we can see all the way to Highway 100.

Lucy's birthday is tomorrow and she will be spending it in the hospital. I'm grateful for getting to celebrate another birthday with her! I do wish she could have been released today. Comments are working, so please feel free to send her birthday greetings tomorrow. Thank you so much for your support!

"The ankle bone is connected to the shin bone..."

The ankle is more complex than a single bone and "Dry Bones" was not intended to be an anatomy lesson in song.  It is sort of applicable because Lucy is walking better. Her ankle is pointing forward (12 o'clock) instead of away from her body (2 o'clock). Yesterday she would walk mostly on the ball of her right foot. Today she can get her foot flat and bend it forward towards the ball. She is getting the hang of it. Today she managed to use the bathroom. Two days ago she couldn't walk but half that distance. The walker will be temporary

Her hemoglobin went up from yesterday. It is now at 8.7. It's been a couple months since her hemoglobin has stayed steady or risen a couple days after a transfusion. Her platelets were 212,000 and her white count was at 5.6. Those counts are vastly improved from when she arrived nine days ago. It sounds like she is in "therapeutic range" for her INR. The Chromogenic Factor X test results were not quite in therapeutic range. Dr. Thurmes came by and explained the results. His feeling is Lucy will be in the hospital until at least Sunday now. Lovenox injections might have been an option, but Lucy was on those for her clots. The heperin is working and it can be monitored and adjusted as needed.

Lucy managed a walk of about 100 feet tonight with only a small stop to turn her walker around. The Physical Therapy people commented on how pleased they were with the distance. She got her exercise in tonight. There is a Meditation Sanctuary on this floor that she wants to see because of the water feature.

In addition to the various hospital staff in and out of her room today, Lucy had some visitors. Her supervisor and supervisor's supervisor came by for about 45 minutes. Anh-Thu brought in a beautiful flower arrangement that she had designed. Lucy has some really great co-workers!

Lucy's sister Julie came by tonight for a couple hours and brought us some lemon chicken from Leeann Chin. The hospital food is alright, but the menu selection is limited. Lucy does not have dietary restrictions. It was really nice seeing Julie!

Lucy is staying positive. She does get frustrated at times, and so do I. We know this journey will be a battle and there will always be unknowns. That is why the victories both large and small are cause for celebration.
Thank you, everyone!