Woah is me...Special Guest Posting

Hi everybody, Debbie here with Jessie typing for me. I woke up this morning all excited that I could possibly go home. The doctor said yesterday that as long as I did not have a temp for 24 hours and my WBC came up to 3.5, I could go home ignoring the fact that I had this nasty cellulitis (inflammation of the skin caused by infection) cooking in my right arm from a needle stick. So I patiently waited for the doctor to make his daily rounds – which did not occur until this afternoon. I said, “Here I am, my counts are good and I’m ready to go home.” He took one look at my arm and gasped, “You can’t go home with an arm looking like that! We need to get infectious disease in here and you need a central line put back in so that we can administer IV antibiotics for a week!” (vancomycin). Mind you, I’ve been showing everybody this arm for the last few days and no one seemed too upset by it. I’ve been keeping warm compresses on it, but must admit it was getting pretty painful and I can no longer bend my arm. Like the mature, medical professional that I am, I started to cry. “I wanna go home! Why can’t I go home on vancomycin by mouth?” The doctor said for an infection such as this IV antibiotics are the only thing to do the trick. So instead of moving forward, I feel like I’ve taken 20 steps back. They are going to place a pic line in my upper arm tomorrow, which is a long-term central line. Lo and behold, after all this wonderful news, the nurse takes my temperature and my fever is back. So my goose is cooked and I’m here until at least Tuesday.

Jessie’s been here with me this afternoon and spoiled me with a pedicure and even snuggled with me when I got a little weepy. I am much better now because I agree my arm looks like it could soon fall off. This is where I probably need to be for now. With all the platelets and IV sticks I’ve had these last three months, my veins are tired. The pic line would provide access for lab draws and antibiotics as I need them so it seems like a good move.

Thank you so much for your funny and caring blogs. They always make me smile and realize how blessed I am to have every one of you in my life. I hope everything is well with all of you and your families. Good luck to the college freshmen, Laura, Meredith, Caroline, and Patrick, such wonderful times await you. I’ll be thinking of you during the next few weeks as you head off to school.

I guess I should look on the bright side. Now that they’ve stopped the chemo, I think a night at the Mainland is in order, with a nice Cosmo. Hope to talk to you all soon.

Love,

Debbie

P.S. Also, good luck to the moms and dads whose kids are off to college. It is such an emotional time. I cried the whole way home from James Madison after dropping Jessie off. I could see her doing cartwheels in my rearview mirror as I drove off (somewhat true story)…I’ll be thinking of you parents too…