Well, my computer crashed, right after my cell phone died. So I came
home today to 562 emails....I can't remember when I last posted, so here
is an update of the last week.
Mark completed his 3rd week of radiation - two more to go. He is just
about completely bald, and his head looks so odd because of all the
scars. I worked Monday and Tuesday, so the medical car took him to the
hospital on those two days.....
Wednesday, I took Mark to the hospital and we also saw the pancreatic
surgeon, who told us that Mark should see his primary care physician
about the cough that he is having. He also recommended a surgeon at
Northwestern University Hospital, which IS in our PPO, since he will
have to have a CAT scan in three weeks, and at some point, another
surgery. Since the pancreas has a cyst on it that seeps fluid into the
chest cavity, he will have to have the cyst removed, and the pancreas
opened up and attached to the small intestine. Mark was really
disappointed to be told that he could not eat - he has been on TPN since
January.
Thursday, we also saw our primary care physician (at another location,
but at least the medical car took him, because I had to work that
morning), who said that Mark should have a chest x-ray, and said that
the thoracic surgeon should not have released him while the chest tube
was still seeping. Oh well. She gave us a referral for a chest x-ray,
but it was at STILL another hospital (damned insurance), and he was too
sick to go. - coughing and throwing up. By the way, Mark has lost 50
pounds - and I have now lost 14, just from exhaustion!
Friday, I woke up with a sore throat and coughing. I took Mark to the
hospital for radiation, we also had blood drawn, and saw the oncologist,
who said that Mark looked very good, but we would have to check back
monthly for a year to monitor the results of the treatment. He said
that Mark will not be able to have radiation done again, and will only
be able to have chemo in small doses. (We have decided to move all of
the doctors except the neurologist and the oncologist from the
University of Chicago Hospital to Northwestern University Hospital,
because of insurance issues - our insurance will only cover the doctors
at U of C at 60%, and will exclude everything that they consider higher
than "usual and customary", which is about 50% of the bill. ) We then
went to the THIRD hospital and tried to get Mark that chest x-ray -
waited two hours, and the line didn't even move. I told Mark that I HAD
to go home and get some rest - I just couldn't do this any more. Then we
had about an hour of "Friday traffic" to top off the day. I get home,
and get an update on Sasha's grades - she is still flunking math and
English, and has a D going in science, which used to be her best class.
Sasha showed up with another girl Friday night at 9:45 PM, after they
had gone to a play (I had told her that she could go out after school,
since she was coming to help me with the cottage this weekend). I asked
if her mom was coming to get her - she said yes. So then I called the
mom, found out that the mom wasn't even home, but the girl's dad was -
he didn't want to come get her, because he was cooking dinner. I told
him that he had to come get her, because I was sick (and I hadn't had
dinner, either, but what else is new) - he didn't show up until she
called him a second time, at 11:30 PM! I had to stay up and get all of
Mark's meds ready for the next two days, but I was pretty annoyed. Then
I went to bed and had the chills and sweated all night.
Saturday morning, Sasha and I took off for a five-hour drive to our
cottage in Michigan to pack it up to be sold. I had planned for an early
start, but ended up going back to bed because I felt so lousy. I didn't
even want to go, but we were closing on Monday, and my girlfriend's
husband was driving up with his truck on Sunday to help move things for
us. As it was, I had to stop at a rest area and take a nap halfway
there, and then I had to take another nap once I got there. ( I got a
friend of ours to stay with Mark in the afternoon (and asked him to take
Mark for that chest xray), and had his brother spend the night with
him. I was pretty nervous about leaving him, but I didn't have much
choice....)
It was freezing at the cottage - it was under 50 degrees INSIDE when we
woke up this morning, but at least I had one night without Mark waking
me up because he needed something! I ended up just giving away a lot of
stuff to our next-door neighbor, just so I wouldn't have to deal with
it. I left most of the furniture (it was old stuff) for the people who
bought the cottage. As it was, we still had to tie stuff to the roof of
the car, and stuff it almost up to the roof inside. Just got home and
parked the car with everything still in it. Ten minutes later, I get a
call from a total stranger who has our DOG, who somehow got out the door
after greeting me, and managed to roll in something that smells just
nauseating.
So I am home, with a stinky dog who will not leave my side, and a needy
husband. I feel like I just ran a triathalon, and I have to go to work
tomorrow.
Sasha at least decided that she had a good time after all (lots of
whining during the trip). I have the lyrics of every single rap song on
the radio (which are pretty bad, let me tell you!) stuck in my head
every time I lie down and try to close my eyes. It is past midnight, and
I have to start all over in six hours... more later!
Eilene