March 24, 2022
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Hey folks -
Remember, when last I poured my words of progress upon you, how I
happily described the preceding period as having "no drama"?
Well.....
Things were going swimmingly after round 4 of chemo - Mel was doing amazingly well - best of all of the rounds so far - until she wasn't. We had a wonderful day on my birthday (Sunday the 13th, 2 days before the 2nd to last chemo treatment was scheduled), which included a bike ride for me with Anna, Corey and the grandkids (it was Kite Day in Redondo Beach! Beautiful! Fun!), followed by a delightful afternoon where Bubbe got to hang out with the whole family, and a wonderful dinner (Anna's kick-ass eggplant parmesan!), but after the kids went home and after her shower, the site of Mel's portacath became inflamed and was hurting. By 4:00 am Monday morning, it was bad enough that we decided to go to the ER to get it checked out. You don't f*ck around with ports, because they are lines right into the bloodstream, and you don't want infections in there!
After 6 hours of IV antibiotics and fluids in the ER, we were sent
home with more (oral) antibiotics. For Mel, taking pills is a great
challenge because of her paralyzed vocal cord - we have to crush all
pills and mix with anything we can find to disguise the disgusting
taste of the meds - because she has to take them with meals, it
diminishes her appetite, and the antibiotics seem to cause
additional nausea.
By Monday evening, Melody was very sick from
the experience, and because you cannot get chemo treatment with an
infection or while on antibiotics, we were very concerned and
disappointed to have to set back her 5th round. We were so looking
forward to having that behind us, with the 6th and final right on
the horizon.
By Tuesday evening, we were back at the ER because Mel's port site
was weeping and very painful. This was the beginning of a grueling
all-nighter and a very long week. We arrived around 8pm, and waited
a long time negotiating the crowds, trying to keep Mel separated
from others to protect her, which meant she had to sit outside for a
couple of hours. Once we got in, there were a zillion tests and
blood draws, IVs and a CT scan, and finally, she was admitted to the
hospital around 6:30-7ish the next morning. I went home for a very
few precious hours of sleep, while Anna went in to be with her mom.
The hospital stay involved more IVs and blood draws, each of them
excruciating (Mel's veins are in very poor shape, which is why she
had the port in the first place). I got to set my fat tush down on
the uncomfortable chair in her room throughout visiting hours, from
11am until after 8pm, and I schlepped all manner of stuff back and
forth between there and home every day. It was exhausting, and my
butt hurts!
This continued until the infectious disease specialist, in
collaboration with her other doctors (including the hematologist)
decided that, even though the cultures had come back negative, it
was safer to just remove the port. So it was another surgery for
that on Saturday. Mel was finally discharged (feels to me more like
a release from prison) on Sunday afternoon (3/20), with even more
(oral) antibiotics in tow. It was an excruciatingly long week.
Anna's killer zucchini soup (a wonderful substitute for hospital
food), was the mainstay of her diet for 5 days.
Lying in bed for that long took a bit of a toll on her, and she's
very weak. We were scheduled to have a
PICC line inserted on Monday, and when we went to the hospital for
that outpatient procedure, the nurse decided we should hold off
because of how weak Mel was, and because there were still cultures
from the surgery that hadn't come back from the lab. They sent us home, and instead,
we finally had that done today.
Obviously, all of this means she missed a 2nd week of chemo treatment, so it's a 3-week setback. We are currently ready for the next-to-last session on Thursday, 3/31, with the final one 3 weeks later. We won't be sorry to be done with this, let me tell ya!
My poor wife has been poked and prodded beyond the imaginable. She's
trying to stay positive (and largely succeeding), but she's been
feeling vulnerable and very emotional. Now, she's recovering from
pains on both sides of her body: her healing wound from the port
removal surgery on the right, and the new PICC line on the left. The
latter is a bit challenging to get used to, and requires weekly
maintenance at the infusion center in Harbor City (more
schlepping!).
As challenging as this has all been, my wife continues to be brave
beyond belief, and up to this challenge. She says she is grateful
for this good life she has. We're both very tired (I used to be able
to do all-nighters in stride, but I'm clearly getting too old for
that - this one knocked the crap out of me!), but we're now back in
our groove and ready for whatever comes next. We will ride this
roller-coaster to the end, and try to keep the motion-sickness at
bay along the way.
Hope you are all well and staying safe from variants and
sub-variants.
  Glen |