John Update

This afternoon John was moved to a regular medical floor.  He was in ICU as a normal  precaution because he had just been released from the hospital a few weeks ago.  All his tests have come back negative.  It could have been just a little bug he picked up, like the kind everyone else is getting... a 24 hour virus or something.

Because he has this lesion on his neck (remember when they wouldn't start the chemo because of the rash on his neck?  That was more than a month ago!!)  Anyway, it was a type of herpes, shingles to be exact and it's a common "side effect" of chemo.  Anyway, to be on the safe side, until the dermatologist sees it, they put John in isolation.  That's fine with him!  It means he gets a private room!  He's been on Acyclovir (an anti-fungal antibiotic) since August 14, except for 3 days when his course ran out.  Now he's getting it via IV.

I called his oncologist yesterday and told her what was going on.  She felt as long as he was comfortable where he was, there was no reason to transfer him to HUP.  If anything turned up bad, she wanted him at HUP, but since everything is coming back negative, he's fine where he is.  She just wants copies of his records.

The nice thing is, the hospital is 20 minutes from John's apartment.  I do stay there at times if I don't feel like driving all the way back to Pottstown.  The down side is, if I have to work the next day, I have to get up and drive an hour to Pottstown! 

So that's where everything stands now.  Boy, I sure will be glad when we can get back to our boring normal life!

The only real regret I had was John and I weren't able to participate in his area's Light The Night Walk.  We were looking forward to it so much! Darn!!


PSST!!!!  I left a clue in the comment section of the Riddle!  Look!  It's right below this post!

Riddle Me This and a clue was added to comments!

I thought I'd get a post ready in case I don't get home tonight or tomorrow.   Here's another riddle.  I'll add a hint in the comments if no one figures it out by the time I can get online again.  As soon as someone guesses correctly, I'll let you know!!!  (hahaha  I forgot the answer to this one!  I have to think about it for a bit!)

Anger, Cowardice and envy

Appear to be just base emotions.

But overhead they guide your feet

And stipulate your forward motions.

(Credit for this riddle goes to Tower of the Riddle Master)

Damn it!

It's after 3 am and I just got home from the hospital.   Before John went to work today, he was feeling very very cold.  It was roughly 75 degrees outside and the sun was HOT!  John put on thermal underwear (top and bottom) under his uniform, then a tee shirt and his work shirt and pants and a knit cap on his head and he was STILL cold!  He went to work and asked if anyone else was cold and his boss made him go home.  

John took his temp and it was 100.7.  Anyone else would take a few Tylenol and go take a nap.  Not so with cancer patients.  If your temp goes to 100.5 or higher, they want to see you, pronto!  Fortunately John didn't take any chances and drove himself to the ER.  Not the one at HUP, but his local hospital only 20 minutes away. (Matty, he's at Abington Hospital)  At that time of day, it would have taken John 2 hours to get to Philly and HUP.

He was in the ER from about 4 pm to nearly midnight.  They wanted him in ICU but we had to wait for a bed.  A little past midnight, they got him up there and I was sent out of the room so they could examine him.  They are afraid of infection.  They took all kinds of blood and urine tests and I guess we have to wait for morning to get results.  They did give him some antibiotics via IV while he was in the ER.   

By the time I left it was after 1:30 am.  My plan was to stay at John's apartment since it's only 20 minutes or so from the hospital, but I remembered I saw the cats' food thing was just about empty this morning, so I had to go all the way home and pick up cat food on the way.  I live an hour or so from the hospital.  If John is still in the hospital tomorrow night, I'll stay at his place.  

I can't believe he's now spiking fevers!  This was supposed to happen a few days after transplant, not on Day 28!  Hopefully, this isn't serious and he can go home soon.  I also wonder if his oncologist will want him transferred to HUP.  I guess I'll learn more in the morning.  I called out of work for tomorrow.  If John was in a regular room, I'd have gone to work and gone to visit him after.  But with him being in the ICU, I feel better being there. 

Anyway, I'll probably have an update in a day or so.  If I stay at John's tomorrow night, I won't have internet access.  I'll post when I can.

Dear So and So

Dear Bloggy friends who sent cards to John,

Thank you so much!  He loved getting cards, especially since his family didn't bother to call or send cards.  It was very kind of you and it really lifted his spirits (and mine!) when they arrived.

Gratefully, Joanie

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Dear Bloggy and Facebook friends,

Thanks so much for the birthday wishes!  It really took the sting out of turning 54!

Love, Joanie

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Dear TGI Friday guests,

 Please come back!  I miss you (and your generous tips) terribly!  My bank account would be oh so grateful if I fed it  more roughage (greens and stuff) more often.

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Dear Son,

Thank you for taking your old mom out for dinner on her birthday!  The only thing that would have made it better if that bitch, Tabitha wasn't our waitress.  

Happily, Mom

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Dear Daughter,

Thanks for asking your Dad if he'd give us a room at the Marriott (with his Marriott points) when we drive to IUP to see your sister in her play.  I didn't want to have to ask him, but it was terrific that you could.

Love, Mom

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Dear Younger Daughter,

Congratulations on getting a role in the play on your first day of college!  Even though you'll be playing a dead slut with a foul mouth, I'm still very very proud of you.  Just make sure, if your father insists on seeing the play too, that he chooses to go the week after me.  Actually, it would be fun to see his reaction to your role!  If only I wouldn't have to meet his fat-assed, slut future ex-wife, I could enjoy the moment. 

Proudly, Mutti

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Want to share in the fun or Dear So and So?  (you can get a lot off your chest!)  Pop on over to Kat's Place, grab the button, sign in with Mr. Linky and have fun!

 

Riddle Me This

This is something I've been thinking of doing for some now.  But with John being in the hospital, then his recovery at home and finally with my computer crashing, I didn't want to start it.  But all is well now (knock wood!) and I can do this!

I wanted to do a weekly blog post with a riddle y'all can try to solve.  Some are easy, others more difficult.  I can even post a hint or 2 in the comment section if y'all are having trouble finding the answer. 

So I figured out to make a button and I added a link on my sidebar.  I'll figure out who to finish it up tonight.

(credit goes to Tower of the Riddle Master)

When air is still, and waters calm,

You will find me every place.

But come the wind or falling rain,

I go and hide without a trace.

You no doubt hate the tiny gifts

That I bestow each time I feed.

But as I give I also take

For you contain the gift I need.

I'm back!!

Finally got my computer up and running again. Apparently I had a few corrupted files and it was very possible I may have deleted something I shouldn't have when I didn't recognize it. After the nice man in India from Dell helped me wipe out everything on my computer, I finally realized all the drivers were still there but hidden. I found them, unzipped them and voila'! I'm back in bidness! The big down side is I have to reinstall every single program I had on here before. Luckily no mega important stuff is on the computer. I'm going to catch up on blogs tomorrow (my day off and I'll be ALONE!!)

Robin Hood, one piece at a time

My good friend, Mary Ellen at Adopting ME sent me this wonderfully fabulous jigsaw puzzle called The Adventures of Robin Hood from a now-defunct company called Buried Blueprints.  I love these puzzles!  They are challenging to say the least.  I decided to save the puzzle until John got home from the hospital. 

We started the puzzle on Sunday.  Just putting the frame together was a challenge since so many pieces sort of fit, we had to keep making adjustments.  I have to hand it to John.  That man is relentless when faced with a challenge (as we all know just by the way he fought this cancer).  He worked on this puzzle for hours on end.  We were able to get it finished by Friday night (and we weren't even here from Tuesday morning until Wednesday afternoon!)

So I took a few pictures of each day's progress.

This is the puzzle that Mary Ellen sent me.  I love her!

Day One  We got the frame complete, after only about oh, 4 hours!

Day Two. We're making a little progress.  John worked on this all. day. long.

Day Three  Now it's starting to look like something!

Also Day Three  This was the day Cameron was feeling a little neglected.

Day Four!  Nearly complete!

Day Five  The finished product!

This was really fun, Mary Ellen!  Thanks for sending it to me.  It gave us something to do while John was recuperating and besides, we were flat broke.  We couldn't have gone anywhere even if we wanted to!

Cameron

Do you think we weren't paying enough attention to Cameron?

Uncle Fester? and an update

So whatya think?  Does John look like Uncle Fester or what?  For those of you not old enough or not famiiar with 1970s American TV, there was a show called The Addams Family and one of the characters was Uncle Fester.  When John lost his hair during chemo, one of the gals at work thought he looked like Uncle Fester.   She went online and ordered a lightbulb for John (we had been looking for one with no luck).  It arrived today.  He's having lots of fun with it!  He might even take it with him to his next doc appointment in 2 weeks!  hahahaha!!!!

Speaking of his doctor appointment, Dr. S is VERY pleased with John's progress!  Apparently he is a star patient.  The record for release from the hospital after transplant is 11 days.  John was released in 12 days.

John has permission to return to work on Monday!  He's very happy!  I hope he can handle it ok.  So far, he seems to have a decent amount of energy.  I've been taking more naps than he is right now!  lol 

So that's where everything is for now.   I guess my real empty nest will start next week.  John will be at his place from Monday.  My son is coming home on Monday to take me out to dinner for my birthday and will stay overnight.  I can't believe I'll be 54 in a few days!!

Crash!!!

My computer crashed.  As soon as I get a check from my ex, I can call Dell and see if they can help me.  For now I'm on John's laptop.  Not sure when I can get online for any length of time.  this sucks.