Eyes Wide Open

From Gail:

Today was more eventful than we thought it would be - all good - but it made for a very long day.

The "quick" stop for lab work at the Cancer Clinic (10:30 a.m. appointment) turned into a 3 hour visit. Cathi's potassium continues to stay JUST below the bottom of the normal range. So, they hooked her up to the IV pole for a mid-day boost. She also got platelets again. All the other counts are inching toward the normal ranges while the potassium and platelets are behaving as expected. Cathi goes back on Sunday morning - at 9 am or before - to get another dose of potassium. [Gail has learned an important lesson: do not anticipate the lab results. It might work for an office pool, but the reality is it's just like that box of chocolates - you don't know what you're going to get.]

The big accomplishment for the day is that Cathi stayed awake all day. Her first nap was around 5pm. Yesterday at the clinic we discussed with the nurse Cathi's lack of awake time. After reviewing the meds with the pharmacist, we learned that the anti-nausea med has an added benefit of causing drowsiness. The pharmacist suggested cutting the tablets in half and still getting an anti-nausea effect. BINGO. Wide awake almost all day while having fewer episodes of nausea. She is safely tucked into bed now.

Cathi's brother, Walt, stopped by this afternoon and installed a new phone jack in the kitchen, which is open to the family room where "Cathi's Chair" is located. The end of running to the front of the house to answer the phone. YEA!!

Thank you to all of you who have sent Cathi messages, texts, emails, and voice mails. It is helping Cathi get her mojo back with all the good wishes & love being sent to her. Keep sending that mojo!