Dorene chose the title for today's post... it expressed the frustrations of the day for her... Okay... onto what happened today:
Something I neglected to mention in my first post is that Dorene has had serious heart palpitations where she thinks she is having a heart attack and needs to go to the emergency room. This is increasing and Dorene had an appointment today with her General Practitioner to get the Cardiology referral she needed. But yesterday while at work the heart palpations got so bad that at one point she couldn't move at work while helping a client. She had to just sit there and try to breathe until it faded. She then drove herself to the emergency room...
They did some testing and decided Dorene was not having a heart attack and essentially kicked her out saying she needed to see her doctor. Buttheads! But as Dorene was leaving she sat up from the gurney and thankfully the nurse was at that moment checking her heart rate and her heart rate sky rocketed right there while being monitored which made Dorene feel better and not like she was over reacting which is the way the ER doctor had made her feel. Before they discharged Dorene they gave Dorene a shot of Dilaudid, to supposedly relieve her stress (and which Matt informed me is a test as to whether it is true stress causing the issue), which kicked Dorene's butt! She didn't even think she could walk to the wheel chair she was so out of it. They asked her how she felt and she said "I don't feel anything." Lol – Matt thought he might have to carry her to the car. Dorene went home, slept for 3 hours, got up for an hour or so and went back to bed at 7pm and slept all the way through to this morning at 8pm and said that if they hadn't had doctor appointments she'd have been back in bed to sleep some more. They also prescribed some Xanax for anxiety and she did not have a stress attack despite having a very rough day.
So, today, she got her referral to the cardiologist and has an appointment on Friday to make sure her heart is okay and to confirm and treat this anxiety.
Today, Dorene also had the last set-up appointment at the Radiology Center. Dorene doesn't like these people at all. They are cold and distant and don't seem to care at all about her fears, or her work schedule, or anything personal. They just handed her a schedule they generated without having spoken to her about it and when she said, AGAIN, that she has other doctor appointments and work to think about they said they were very busy and this is her schedule and maybe they could look at it again tomorrow. No, let's see if we can make this easier on you. No, we're sorry about this... our schedule is completely full right now but we'd be happy to see what we can do, or maybe we can improve on this schedule in a week or so. They are not nice and concerned caregivers. If Dorene had another option she'd take it but there is none.
Dorene was telling me how neither she nor Matt can believe how fast the tumors are changing right now or how quickly they are ulcerating. She said they are like little scabs right now and she may have only a day or two before they ulcerate. :-( And they can see a marked change in them every day. When she asked the Radiologist if this would stop the tumors from ulcerating, she said "that's what we're shooting for." So there is no guarantee this will stop the tumors from ulcerating. :-(
Dorene has her first radiation treatment tomorrow, and a bone scan appointment. She has to go back and forth from the hospital and town three times tomorrow. %-} And because of the crazy doctor appointment schedules she has asked for the rest of the week off work which her employers were more than happy to accommodate. They are such nice people.
Okay… lots of icky things to share today. Here is what we are grateful for today:
We are grateful for Matt, who is an amazing husband and medical advocate for Dorene. Who works very hard every day at trying to improve their situation so that Dorene doesn’t have to work at all if she doesn’t want to. Who has taken on not only all of the financial responsibilities but most of the home care responsibilities so Dorene can rest and not worry. Who is more than willing to be the “bad guy” in any situation if it makes people pay attention to what Dorene is saying. Who is doing everything he possibly can to help the love of his life, his Dorene. Yes, we are very grateful for Matt… today and every day. :-)
We are also grateful for the all the people at Dorene’s work at the Veterinarian Office who love and support Dorene and who are willing to work with her in any way they can to help her during these difficult days. Dorene had to take the rest of this week off to attend to all of this medical stuff and they didn’t blink an eye at saying whatever you need! What a blessing this job has been to Dorene because there are people there that love her and care about her well being, because she gets to help animals and that gives her something to focus on besides all the difficulties in her own life, and yes, because she needs the job.
We are also grateful to Uncle Jim today, who helped Matt and Dorene through a difficult financial situation this week. Hearing about an unexpected large expense he simply said… let’s take care of it and eliminate the stress for Dorene. And he did! :-) Thank you Uncle Jim for your generous and loving heart!
And we are grateful to each person who reads this blog, because that means that you love and care for Dorene, are praying for her healing, are or have been helping her through the difficulties she has faced lately. “It takes a village” may have turned into a bit of a cliché but true phrases become cliché’s because they are true. An illness like this cannot be fought by the ill individual alone…. It takes the love and support (whether emotional or practical) of everyone around that person and everyone in Dorene’s life has responded with loving generosity. Yes, we are so very grateful for YOU!
Love,
Deborah
Dorene’s Sister :-)
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment