Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Thursday, August 20, 2009

It's Medi-port day!



Lucky you, lucky readers, X woke me up at 4:30 this morning, giving me just enough time to type an update before I head out at 6 AM to get my mediport placed this morning.

X is still suffering the effects of whatever he was suffering from.

He had a bloody nose at 4:30.

Since I decided to wake up anyway he’s now hanging out, watching cartoons, along with the dog and the cat.

In this household, time really has nothing to do with when everything wakes up.

It has a lot to do when I get up.

As soon as I move that leg out from the covers I have the dog nudging me, following me around for food and to be let out.

After a while, Josie the cat, gets brave to ask for what she wants.

Then she just gets irritated she has had to wait and stands guard in front of my coffee maker meowing, trying to make it clear that I will not have my coffee until she gets her water.

I don’t think so.

All the meanwhile, Xander is bouncing around and I feel ill.

I have heard some mumblings about X having the swine flu.

I want those mumblings to stop now.

That is a very, very scary idea.

Whatever he has, it’s nasty, and I will admit I am scared.

This would certainly warrant a hospitalization for me.

That just doesn’t fit in my schedule right now. I have plans. I need to keep things moving.

The illness has torn through my parents, brother, sister, her entire family, Lexi, and has now moved onto xander where it will hopefully stop.

It will not be kicking my ass anytime soon.

That is not where it’s headed next.

But it would be appropriate. It would be the story of my life, seeing as both Anna and Dr. G are on vacation next week.

I thought once they graduated and accepted their position they had their beepers surgically implanted into their forearms.

I know Dr. Alyea did.

Anyway, today is mediport day.

I love mediports.

It is like a security blanket for cancer patients.

I now know any hospital anywhere will be able to have central venous access in an emergency.

No more poking and pricking to find IV sites.

There is a lot less pain involved where there is a mediport.

The tracts in my antecubitals can disappear again.

All it takes is a simple procedure with conscious sedation.

I will be getting fentanyl and versed today.

It is one of my favorite combinations.If you ever wondered if my narcotics clouded my judgment just a little bit, I can assure you versed makes me throw all caution to the wind.

Some people do drunken dials in their twenties. I do eprazolam emails.

It tends to bring the wild side out, kind of like tequila.

I am hoping my dad will keep me under wraps, but that has never been his strong suit.

I am sure, if he has a choice between controlling my silly instincts and letting me loose, he’s going to instigate me to let loose.

I guess we’ll see what happens.

After this morning I will just have a little round disk under the surface of my skin with a line threaded directly to my heart to send any chemotherapy or medication I need through.

Hooray.

Who knew the simple things could make me feel so secure.

And of course, Sen. Judd Gregg is in Salem today hosting an open forum on healthcare.

As usual, it was announced at the last minute.

I would love to go see him. Actually, of all the political representatives I would like to meet, he is at the top of the list.

Sen Judd Gregg has represented NH for a very long time and is really the loudest republican voice in health care reform.

His role in the upcoming changes intrigues me. I hope to get a better picture of where he stands soon.

2 comments:

Heather said...

hoping that the mediport placement will be easy peasy. and with all you've been through i'm sure it will be. i too enjoy the combo of versed/fentanyl. sometimes i could use a dose here and there in my daily life. have you ever come across a mediport placed into the thigh of a patient? that's where mine was-chest veins are obliterated and apparently were from the get go. anyway, the nurses really marveled at that- so i guess it's not too common. good luck and hopefully the incision site will heal quickly.

TillyWilly said...

Congrats (dare I say that) on your mediport. I got one put in on the 19th, and I was going to blog about it and I was trying to find an image that would help people understand what it is - and I found the illustration on your site. I got mine for a lengthy round of antibiotics that I am going to need to be on (3 months) and I had the PICC line before and hated it. Anyway, good luck with things, and I hope you don't mine me borrowing the image.