Hello from OC, NJ

Dear Fods,

I wish I could tell you about the hospital stay, but I was delirious for 2 days because of a drug interaction. Of course, HUP overreacted and thought that I had encephalitis of the brain and wanted to send me to ICU because I had a fever of 104 and a bad headache. Luckily, Mike remembered that I was on lyrica for my back pain and he knew that it interacted with something once before -- so we checked with Dr. Jessica and she remembered that the interaction was with ativan. Of course they had given me both of these drugs on the day in question and Joe took it up with the appropriate authorities at HUP. That is not to say that HUP didn't get their 3 CAT scans and 1 MRI, ruling out an issue that was never an issue, but that is how it goes down at HUP. (Joe's insert)

The fever was due to my ear infection and my eye. Oh by the way, my eye started to pop out of its socket again, due to extreme pressure behind the eye (has not been properly explained to me so I do not know why this happens) and it started to bleed again. So on Thursday, I was in la la land because of the drug interaction with an ear 3 times its normal size, taking on water weight like the Titanic because of the IV fluids, and a popped out eye telling the nurses that I was in Disney World and that I needed a new dance partner.

Joe had called the NP on Wednesday and convinced them that all of this was related to my compromised immune system and to start the steroids again which they did that day. They agreed and started high dose decadron and within 24 hours, my eye was back in place and the ear was looking good, but I felt like a whipped pup. I cannot function for more that 2 weeks once off the steroids -- so they will be with me from now on.

The oncologist said that I had to stay the weekend for observation, but by Saturday morning I was getting a bit blue about the prospect of staying in the hospital for another weekend. Another oncologist came in on Saturday and said, "What are you doing in here? Do you want to go home?" I called Joe and told him to get down here before someone else changed their mind. So she allowed me to be discharged on Saturday afternoon and we just kept heading East to the beach house. The weather has been just beautiful and we had 2 perfect spring days.

I am so weak this time that I could barely make it up the stairs. But I am here and spent time on the decks in the sun (which I am not supposed to do) and went to the boards for some pizza. The air, the surf and the sounds are so soothing for me and I am on the mend again.

Hope you all had a good weekend. Thanks for the blogs and cards and calls. I love hearing about your stories and your families.

We will keep you posted.

All my love,

Debbie