Back to the ER

This is Cheryl...writing for Nancy. It's Sunday and Andi, Erin (Kit's wife) and I are all here at Nancy's keeping her company. Nancy looks a little better today...still some fatigue and nausea and some mouth sores from the Gemzar but at least she is feeling well enough to visit (from the couch) and her sense of humor is coming back!
Yesterday Nancy took another unexpected trip to Maine Medical Center. The visiting nurse came in the morning to dress her incision and did not like what she saw. She felt that the depth of the wound was not decreasing in spite of three weeks of wound care and called Nancy's oncologist. The doctor on call told her to send Nancy to the ER so that he could see the wound. As it turned out, Andi was on her way over to see Nancy and she and Aaron took Nancy to the hospital at about noon. As always, the ER was busy and Nancy had to wait quite awhile. Since she was experiencing the side effects of chemo (headache, nausea and fatigue), sitting up in the waiting room was making her feel even worse. After about an hour of this, Andi advocated with the ER staff and they got Nancy a gurney. At least she could lie down but she had not taken her Zofran (for nausea) before she left for the hospital and waiting without her medication was not pleasant. Once she was taken to a room, the doctors all poked around in her incision, which was so painful that Nancy began to vomit...a real unpleasant situation. They finally got Nancy on an IV and started some Zofran and an antibiotic which helped a bit. An abdominal ultrasound and a CT scan were done and it seems that there is some fluid under the incision which will have to be dealt with. Because of all of this, Nancy is scheduled to see her oncologist Tuesday morning before she has her next round of chemo, which is scheduled for 10:30. It's a balancing act because the chemo depresses the immune system, slowing healing of the incision, but the doctor does not want to delay the chemo. So, we'll know more on Tuesday and I'll be sure to update this blog then. Nancy did not get home from MMC until after 8:00 p.m. last night so it was quite a day. At least Andi and Aaron were with her for support. p.s. Nancy just got us all laughing as she described the "knuckle draggers" she had to share a room with yesterday in the ER...she must be feeling a little better if she can tell her funny stories again!
This blog started out as a way to update family and friends on Nancy's progress, and to provide a chance to vent at times, but it is evolving into something even better...a chance to share family memories. Nancy's blog about "Ginger Ale" kind of started it. Then Joanne added a comment and Nancy is now working on an entry about her memories of visiting our cousins Brian and Stephen Smith in Ridgefield, CT when we were kids...she'll finish it and post it when she is feeling a little better. Andi also plans to write. She has fast become our family "historian" as her hobby is geneology...she has been using her computer and "Family Tree" software to research our roots both on Mom and Dad's sides of the family. Thanks to Parker Kimball, we have some good information on Dad's family history but Andi is also tracing the Boocock family (Mom's) in England. Andi is currently working to get information on Sister Bernarda, who we all have memories of visiting with Grammy Smith. She found an old photo of Sister Bernarda and got curious (we'll try to upload the photo); if any family members reading this have Sister's real name, please let us know as that will help Andi's research (you can post a comment to this post by clicking on the icon of the yellow pencil at the end of this entry). I've encouraged Andi to post what she learns on this blog for all to read.
Because Nancy needed to confirm some of her memories of Ridgefield, she called Brian Smith the other day. Brian is living in Wells, ME where Nancy teaches. Nancy enjoyed reminiscing with Brian and since she contacted him, Aunt Ann called her this morning, which she also really enjoyed. Maybe this blog will not only help keep everyone informed but also encourage all of us to stay in touch more often and share more of our family memories.
Mom's sister, Aunt Marion, e-mailed me the other day to say how much she is enjoying the blog updates. She has printed some of them to share with some of our Armstrong cousins in Connceticut. Uncle Ed Smith and Aunt Barbara called yesterday to see how Nancy is doing and also to ask, "So, what is a blog anyway?" I told them that it is really an online journal (blog is short for web log). Ed said that his cousin Roger Snelling called him and asked if he know what a blog was. Seems that my cousin, Sue Snelling who works with Andi at UNUM in Portland, must have received my e-mail about this blog and forwarded it to her parents. So now that everyone knows what a blog is, I hope you'll all read it often and add your own memories and comments. Speaking of Sue Snelling (our cousin and Aunt Dora's grandaughter)...Sue -I promise (???) not to write a post about my memories of chasing boys with you at Sebago Lake State Park when we were kids!
Nancy's headache is back and she just said that she is "sick of being sick"...I don't blame her. Think we need to end this now and let Nancy get some sleep. Hopefully she will be feeliing even better tomorrow.
All for now. Cheryl