Day 3
Deb had her first guests today and she was glad to have the company. Her friends Mary and Ron Gerhart and Cathy Goodyear visited for about 1.5 hours. They were there when I arrived today with Joey. This was the first day I have been back in the office and I was there for the morning. Debbie was in good spirits, talking up a storm with her friends and handling phone calls in between. The nurses told her to enjoy this time because there will be some days when she will be too tired to keep up the pace.
Deb received her first 2 units of blood today. Earlier in the day she was walking her laps and she got a little short of breath and experienced some chest pain. Because of the chemo, her hemoglobin in very low so they gave her the blood. That seemed to perk her up a bit.
Joey, Deb and I had dinner together in her room. She actually ate a fair amount for dinner and seemed to be tolerating it when we left for home. In point of fact, Joey seemed to be having more trouble with his "hospital food" chicken cheese steak than Deb was having with her meal of fresh fish, carrots and bow tie pasta. There is a cafeteria in the adjoining building and we can bring food back to eat with Deb.
Deb got her first three movies from the netflick subscription that Jess ordered. With her new DVD player and head phones, now she can watch a movie whenever she wants. Last night, she also added a few pages to the journal that Chris bought for her. That will be an interesting read when she gets home.
I am glad for everyone that Jess got the blog sorted out. Deb looks forward to the postings and keeping in touch with everyone. Today we discovered that there is a desk top in the family room on the floor that has internet access. With some luck, we may be able to show Deb how to access the blog herself from her own floor!
Thanks to everyone for staying in touch and for your kind words and prayers. Deb sends her love to all.
posted by Joe @ 8:03 PM
9 Comments:
Dear Deb,
I feel like I have told you the stuff in this note because I have typed it at least six times into the blog but it goes off into outer space somewhere!
I want you to know that I have been thinking of you every day, all day. I need to know how to get on the bone marrow registry so I will know if I can be a donor for you. I do pherisis so I can give you platelets and I am O positive so I can do whole blood, too. Let your doctors know. I know with all the love, prayers (and bodily fluids!) of your many friends you are going to beat this!
I guess you didn’t hear of my Thanksgiving fiasco. I got up at 8:00 to get a jump on the day. Since we were taking Andy and Greg’s mom out to dinner and I didn’t have to cook, I thought I’d start decorating the house. I was walking gingerly down the steps on my sore feet when my heel slipped and I went down. My toes got caught in the stiles of the banister and the rest of my body continued bouncing down on my butt! Mike and his girlfriend were packing the car to go to her family’s house in the Pocono’s and volunteered to take me to the ER. I said that I wasn’t going anywhere with bed head and in my pj’s and sent them on their way. I hobbled back upstairs and took a shower and I swear that I could see my foot swelling and turning blue right before my eyes. I hopped to my room, dried my hair, got dressed and called Greg at work to take me to the ER. Luckily they weren’t busy at 9:00. They x-rayed and I broke my foot right below the fourth toe. Since the break was so high up, they just taped it, gave me a boot and crutches and a vicodin and sent me on my way. I sent Greg to at least visit with his mom and went to sleep. I was on crutches a week and a half and with the boot for a few days more. But the boot offers no cushion to the hard floors at school so I am in sneakers, trying not to bend my toes. Next Thanksgiving I’m sleeping in!
I know you are getting lots of calls and visits so I will be sending my love to you this way.
Let them take care of you in the hospital. You have taken care of so many people, both as a nurse and as a friend and now it is time to let people take care of you.
I have everyone I know sending up prayers for you.
Love,
Beth Campbell
Hello Debbie and Friends of Debbie -
Should we call ourselves FOD's??
It's so great to get an update of your day this way, Chizzie.
I was wondering Jess - could you maybe install a WEBCAM and we could actually see into your mom's room? Especially when that cute Latin orderly/houseboy shows up. yuk-yuk. That would be good.
The funny thing is, I read all these comments and I feel like I need to jump right in and start chatting with people and asking questions. For example:
Hi Mo! Love ya!
Beth - Man, that is a dang shame about that tumble you took! And on Thanksgiving, too! There must be something in the festive holiday air because when my husband was hanging one of our holiday disco balls he took a dive off a ladder! What a fiasco that was. Ask Debbie for details.
Lisa - what a nice idea about the food thing. And about the wig thing? I asked Debbie if she would feel better about this hair thing if I shaved my head in solidarity. She said no. I dig wigs though. Do you have wig expertise?
See what I mean?
Debbie - I love you girl. Stay strong and hang in there. Can I bring you back something from NYC? So long, FOD's.
Kris
Great to hear your voice today. Mere had told you that it wasn't snowing well...now it is. Big Flakes. We are off to fill a tractor trailer for Honduras. Brrr!...Mere and Colin will help as they get Christian Service hours. Mere and I help as we are headed on the mission in March and we have to work some here as well.
They pick holy days so they can get the kids from Mere and Colins High School there to help. Today we have lots of young folks coming.
Brrrr! It will be chilly. Take care and keep up the walking, it will make it easier for when you walk down Asbury for your morning walk.
Lots of love...cousineileen
Hello Debbie and family. This is Pauline Kris's niece, I just wanted to let you know that we are all thinking of you and praying for you. We wish that we could come and see you. We love you.
Lots of Hugs,
Pauline
Hello FODs,
I just love the conversation here! I had to share our good news of the day. I visited the peri this morning and everything is looking GREAT! I will visit my OB this afternoon for an FFN, which is a test to predict preterm labor risk. If that comes back favorable, I may be cleared for a quick visit up to PENN!
Emma Grace has a much different personality than her big brother. The nurse tried for 10 minutes to get a decent ultrasound picture of her for me to send to mom. She crosses both arms over her face and turns her head away so we can't see her! I asked the nurse to take another look to make sure she's still a girl and she crossed her legs! She seems to be quite shy. Her brother on the other hand, begins posing as soon as you get your hands on the camera.
It was great to hear from many of you this week. I know my mom is drawing her strength from the support she gets from all of you. A friend told me today she heard on the radio that it is now medically proven that attitude can improve recovery times. Let's stick together to make sure mom can reinforce that new statistic!
Lots of love, J
Hi Debbie!
Just wanted to say HI and i've been thinking about you every since Aunt Kris told me. I know you'll pull through, your a strong person. Thats what i enjoyed about you everytime i seen you. Well i hope you get better.
Love, Krissy
Dear Deb,
I just finished a hectic day doing a "dog and pony" show for our Commanding Officer and Executive Director, Department and Division Head from our headquarters in San Diego. You might have thought the President was coming! It was mentally draining but we just shoved them out the door to catch their plane back to sunny San Diego before the snow hits. My thoughts go to you immediately as I wonder how your day is going. I'm sure you have made friends with everyone on your floor by now!
Looking forward to Marion's on Friday night but it won't be the same without you.
Love to you and Joe
Barb Wiley
XXOO
Hi Deb, think of you often throughout the day and you're in my prayers constantly. Went to Mass this morning and was surprised with the size of the crowd. There's usually the same faces at the 6:30 mass usually around 20 or 30, then it dawned on me that it was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I'm sure all of your friends are thinking the same as me and are asking the Blessed Mother to accompany you as you make this journey to wellness. I get a kick out of reading the blog comments and the universal outpouring of love, hope and affection for you, Joe and your family is heartwarming. Carol & I went down to South Philly the other night for her birthday. One of her comments was that she can't believe the nineteen year old I met in 1969 is now fifty six. It seems like yesterday to me. On the way to the Flyers game we found a lovely Italian restaurant on Passyunk Ave just east of Broad. We pulled a Joe Teklits because we got there at five and had the place to ourselves. The martini and cosmo were very good as was the wine and the food. It's called Paradisio and reminds me of the place in Northern Virginia that Joe, Jessie, Walid & I went to when we did the Cherry Blossom runs. Carol & I plan on taking you and Joe there when we get together for a Sixers or Flyers game. I'm going to check in with Kathy Goodyear to see what your visitors schedule is like. Your just like a fine restaurant, everybody needs a reservation. Don't tell anyone but I know the maitre d' See you soon, Love, George.
Hi Deb,
Well, are you doing this sick thing so us technically challenged people have to think? First of all you should be proud of Jess, Joe, and Mike...they are fixing up things good for you and all who care. Secondly, I am really sorry that you are ill but i am sure that you have the inner strength to make this a growing experience. You are in my thoughts and prayers. I think about you often because of your "giving" approach to life. As a matter of fact i always think of you when i reread "gifts from the sea" You turned me on to a great way of thinking.
Tell Joe he is also in my thoughts. You guys are a great team...which is always a winning combo.
My family is great. Mike is back from RI...at UofP doing grad work. John is a 2Lt in Army.
I will check on this great technological source to find out about you. Know that I care.
Love Terry Reilly
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