Lowered Expectations

Going into our Monday meeting with the doctors we thought we would be getting all kinds of good information - the fact that I forgot to not take my Xarelto the night before should have been an omen for the day. When we got to the hospital, we quickly realized that our meeting that day was a simple one week check-up to make sure things were still going well and to see if I'd be OK to get my central line out. Having forgotten to hold the Xarelto the night before, we knew the answer to that question - no, the central line was not coming out that day. Instead, it was scheduled for the following day in American Fork. As for the meeting itself, we met with Peter, a PA for a bit for an initial evaluation, then met with Dr. Asch. We had a good visit with both the PA and the doctor but it was mostly a chance to talk about how things are going right now. We won't really find out what will happen with maintenance chemo until we've done the 100 days tests, so I'm just going to have to wait till then to find out if I'm doing more chemo.

On Tuesday, I drove myself to the AF Hospital to have my central line removed. I got in pretty quick and it was a fairly casual experience. I changed into a hospital gown and then followed a helper back to a room where I laid on a scanning table. The doctor numbed the area up then started trying to break the central line free by snipping some stitches and yanking on it a lot. It must have been a little stubborn because it took a little while for him to pick at it enough to get it free. Once it was free, he pulled it out and an assistant put some pressure on my collar bone to prevent excessive bruising. It was actually a fairly quick procedure requiring no sedation. Afterwards I got up and walked out to the car and drove myself home - free at last!

As it turns out, I've become allergic to pretty much every procedure they do at hospitals. The day after the removal, I started noticing an itchy rash in the area that they cleaned with some sort of magical orange solution. I've been dealing with this rash for the past couple of days and it's not been fun. There was already a rash in the area of my central line and now it's moved to the area that they cleaned which includes my neck and right shoulder. Hopefully the irritation will subside soon and I'll feel a little more comfortable.

In the mean time, I've been spending a lot of time with the family. One of the activities that we've been trying to do each day is to go on a walk as a family. Today as we were walking, Slate rode his bike and about every 200 feet he had to stop to 'transform' into a dinobot by lifting his bike into awkward looking positions. It was pretty entertaining to watch (and listen) to this transformation. He's been pretty interested in transformers lately so I'm sure that's what is fueling his desire to transform.

Additionally, Slate and I have been working on building Ecto-1 in the form of Legos that my sister Shannon sent me for my birthday. It was a fairly complex build with over 500 pieces so we stretched it out over a few days. Slate helped a little, but I did most of the work. Slate was pretty excited to play with the car today after we finished it!