Sunday - Feb 11 Welcome Home

Well I missed my kids party but they had a nice welcoming for me. showed me all the videos, pictures, and presents. The fam was still all here. Trying to get used to living with this new external stent. It had been quite painful. Still nauseas and unable to eat much.

Sat - Feb 10 - It's A Party

I sit recovering in MD Anderson as my children celebrate the 7th and 9th birthdays at the skating. They had a great turn out. I was feeling too week to go home that day though.Kathi Thomas stayed until 9am, then had to get home to get Cory to the party. Jean came to spend a couple of hours. Finally, Colleen and Alice stayed with me while everyone else enjoyed the party. Greg came after the party to bring me video and photos of the party. It seems as though it all went very well and the kids were very happy with the outcome. That made me feel good. Debbie King spent the night at MD with me as I continued to have nausea and lots of pain getting in and out of bed to go to the bathroom.

Fri Feb 9 - Alyssa's birthday - I get a liver stent

Not only do I not get to see, kiss or hug my 9 year old on her birthday, but I spent pretty much the whole day in misery. What I though was going to be a quickie non-invasive procedure turned out to be something entirely. The good news, however, is that the stint has significantly improved the condition of my liver which was going down hill quickly. I had been yellowing in the eyes and skin little by little over the past couple of weeks, but this week's bilirubin revealed a value of 19 (very high considering normal is 0-2.

After 4 hours, they returned me to my room. I was starving, so I gobbled up some soup -- the threw up for the next 48 hours straight. I was pretty miserable. My friend Kathi Thomas stayed with me at MD Anderson that night. She said that she could not see me that way and leave alone for the night. She tended to me all through the night as I continued to through up. Lourdes and Mayra stayed until about 5pm that evening, as they needed to get back to their family in Miami. Magda came from Melbourne, and stayed pretty late too, but needed to get back home for the kids as they were coming to the party the next day.

Thursday, Feb 8th - Liver Obstruction

Thursday I got MD Anderson for a regular month PAP smear which turns out normal as usual. However, I have a message waiting for me from Dr. Shah regarding my liver enzymes from the day before. It turns out that my bilirubin is extremely high (0.4-2.0 )is normal. Mine was 19. My eyes were yellow, and again they give me the Hospice talk. Dr. Shah wants me to have an ultra sound to see if I have a liver obstruction to explain the high bilirubin. If not, they are not sure what is next for me. I have the sona gram but it is inconclusive. So they schedule me to be admitted to have Radiology take a look. If they find the obstruction, they will need to plant a stent to redirect the bile to the right place. That afternoon I went to the mall for the first time this calendar year to buy Alyssa birthday present and myself an outfit for the party. I had lunch at Harvey with Lourdes and Mayra. I'm the best I have felt in a long time. However, once I get home reality sets in and it's time to go to the hospital. Lourdes and Mayra take me. we get there after 6:30pm, so naturally radiology has home and there is nothing they can do for me this evening. They claim to have been waiting for me since 1pm, yet we didn't get the call at home until almost 5pm.

Dr. Sunshine greets me and tell me all the things that could go wrong and wants me to have another CT scan. The can takes place around 11pm and of course does not go smooth at all that day. They couldn't get an IV in me for nothing. Finally they realize that I have a power port which can be uses for CT scans. Not that easy though because that requires changing the port needle 3 times. The same port needle which had already been changed twice that day. Nothing was going good for me that day. To this day no one has even given me the results of that CT scan, so it must not have been that vital.

My friend Lourdes and Mayra spend a night at a bed and breakfast for friends and family of hospital patients. They say it was very descent for $40. The only hotel in downtown Orlando that night was $260.

Tomorrow is a long long day for me.

Feb 7 - My baby boy's 7th birthday

Unfortunately Anthony's birthday falls on a Wednesday, but he was in school. He got his cup cakes thanks to Nanny and hugs and kisses and gifts this morning. Party scheduled for Saturday at Deltona Skating Rink.

My dear friend Lourdes Hanimian is visiting me from Miami this week and I am so glad she was here to hold my hand through what comes next. Wednesday went off with out a hitch actually. I had my Topetecan, but I was really out of it. I was talking gibberish and not really making a lot of sense.

JAN 31 - I'M BAAAACK

Sorry to have been away sooo loong. Not only have I been extremely ill but forgot how to log into my blog account and finally figured it out today (2/22/07). I'm going to do my best to recall all the events in the appropriate order. I cannot remember Jan 31st right now except that it was a Wednesday and I must have gone in for something -- so this is a place holder for now until I figure it out.

Anyone out there that does remember please feel free to comment