Category Archives: family

“OK…just a little pin prick…”

Lovenox was not what the lyric snippet from Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb referenced. Lucy survived my first injection attempt and I still have all of my nine fingers. We found some advice on the Lovenox web site along with a handy PDF to help with the injections. We’ll be glad when Tuesday gets here. She gets reduced to once per day starting Wednesday.

Lucy has her appointments scheduled for the next three weeks. I think the phone got a workout today.

Lucy’s left leg looks better than yesterday. The erythema is smaller and a bit less red. Her right leg is back to normal except for some flaking skin. We took measurements of both calves so we have a reference point as was suggested by Dr. Thurmes. I’ll be taking twice-daily measurements until her leg gets better.

Lucy’s dad had minor surgery this afternoon. His surgery got bumped for an emergency, so it started at 3:00 instead of 11:00. Lucy had a Neulasta shot appointment at 4:30 so we couldn’t make it to the hospital tonight. She remembered how out of it she was when coming out of general anesthesia, and how it was nice that people cared, but she would rather had some time to get reoriented and rest up. We’re going to visit him tomorrow. It sounds like he might be getting released tomorrow late afternoon.

It was a very nice day outside today. We hope you had a chance to enjoy it.

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Filed under cancer battle, DVT, family

Slowly becoming untethered

Lucy is continuing to make progress. Her calf diameter is another ½ cm. (0.2″) smaller. She no longer needs her pain pump and is taking oral pain medication. Her hemoglobin dropped very slightly from 8.1 to 7.8. However, her white count is now in the normal range. She still needs assistance getting out of bed and cannot walk more than a couple of steps on her right leg. Physical Therapy will be by tomorrow to see what else they can do. Lucy would like more mobility. She has always enjoyed walking for recreation and exercise.

Lucy’s friend Diane visited us this afternoon and brought a little stuffed “Hug Me” elephant. That really brightened Lucy’s day. Yesterday’s delay in Lucy’s procedure precluded her sister Julie from coming to visit. Julie and Lucy have been on the phone a few times. Those calls also brighten her day. We know her sister Suzy is under the weather and we hope she feels better soon.

We don’t have a firm idea of when Lucy can go home. The two main milestones are getting her off IV heparin and they would like to see her calf less swollen and red. Her Coumadin restarted yesterday. Since the INR test will not be accurate, they are using a Chromogenic Factor X test instead.

Molly and Dr. Nashawaty from Minnesota Oncology checked in on Lucy this afternoon.

Lucy has a “Braden risk” bracelet. That means she is at risk for pressure ulcers (“bed sores” is the archaic term). She tries to change her position in bed regularly and so far has no signs of pressure ulcers. The risk will vanish when she is more mobile. It is not a cause for alarm.

Cellulitis is a concern. She is still getting Levaquin once per day as a preventative. And yes, the medical term for “preventative” is “prophylactic”. Lucy is not showing any symptoms of cellulitis.

That’s all for tonight. We’re very touched by the number of people reading the blog. It means the world to us!

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Filed under cancer battle, DVT, family, friends, hospital