Two new friends (3/7/06)

Hello to all,

Wow...another e-mail so soon, huh? Just wanted you to know what went on over the weekend. Unfortunately, I had a rough time over the weekend with low-grade fever, pain, aches, etc. I thought I was coming down with something, and e-mailed Dr. Lossing. But he didn't e-mail me back....I found out he was out of town. Anyway, by Sunday night, the pain was getting pretty intense, so I asked Dave to e-mail Dr. Lossing from his computer. Dr. Lossing wrote back...he had returned. He told Dave he'd fax some lab/x-ray forms to the hospital, and for me to go to the hospital first thing Monday to take care of it all. Then, he wanted to see me in his office.

My mom agreed to take me to the hospital and Dave stayed home with Dad. Thankfully, I had a wheelchair to go to the hospital with, because there was no way I could walk around feeling like I felt. It took especially long for us to get finished at the hospital, because although the fax to the lab made it there, the fax to x-ray did not. And when I did get the x-ray done, it had to be retaken, because the first pictures didn't take properly.

Once we returned home, Dad was anxiously pacing back and forth, waiting to go home to Sonora. Over the weekend, he had an especially difficult time with wanting to leave and go home. His repetitions were unstoppable, and I was so impressed with mom's ability to stay calm and reassure Dad that he would go home on Monday. Mom, you deserve an extra jewel in your crown!

After having some lunch, Dave took me over to see Dr. Lossing. He read the reports from my morning hospital testing, and you're not going to believe this...but I have two new friends, Billy and Reuben. That's right. No one invited them, but they managed to find their way into my blood stream. LOL. The only thing that showed up on my tests was an elevated bilirubin count. On a lab report, it gives the highs and lows of what's normal. Anything below those numbers is considered LOW...and anything above is considered HIGH. My bilirubin was 3.9. Now the high end of normal is 1.0, so mine is slightly elevated. But it's enough to make me jaundiced. Dr. Lossing said I could have a blocked bile duct in the liver, or the tumor could be growing. The interesting thing is that my other liver function tests are all lower than the last blood tests. So we'll have to wait and see with this. In the mean time, Dr. Lossing had me call the Home Health Nurses to increase my hour pain med rate, so I didn't have to be in such pain. I've kind of felt like a zombie today, but not much pain at all, so I guess it's working.

On a happier note...people have blessed me over and over again. On Friday, Pastor Ron and Vicki came over and brought us one of their famous Costco meals to share with my parents. Thank you!!! Martie and Dori came for a visit on Sunday and Dori loaned me her rigid wheelchair to use as needed until I can start feeling better. Thank you both for making the drive up from Santa Barbara. And Al and Joyce Morey showed up on Sunday afternoon with an entire "cool" meal! Nothing was hot, so I could eat it. Everything was delicious, and we thank you for that. My parents enjoyed sharing it with us. This helped so much since I wasn't feeling my best.

Tomorrow evening is going to be very special for us. A while back, Martie Levy asked me if I could send her a list of "things" I would love to do...that others could do for me. At first, I drew a blank because everyone's been so good to me over these past three years (almost) since my b/c diagnosis. Then, little ideas started coming to mind, and I made my list and sent it to Martie. Well, one of the things I've wanted to do is ride in a limo, just for the fun of it. So Martie has arranged for a limo to pick us up tomorrow at 5:30 and drive us to Los Olivos for a meal at the Fess Parker Inn's Wine Cask restaurant. It'll be our family of four going, and everyone's very excited. Since tomorrow makes a week since chemo, I am officially allowed to eat heated foods, although I'm going to take that in moderation, just to play it safe! It's always nice to have something to look forward to...so to Martie, everyone else involved in making this happen, thank you.

My mom called today to share that my brother, Brian, is having some pretty extensive surgery in his mouth, including having his tonsils removed. Please keep Brian in your prayers, as I've heard this can be more painful when you're an adult, than for children. Brian, you have my prayers!!!!

Love to you all,

Terri

May I be a blessing to you in each word I write today.
The past is history, the future is a mystery, but the present is a gift! Enjoy today.