Day 257

Tuesday we went into the infusion clinic and Sarah got two liters of fluid, even though she received some IV pain medication she didn’t seem to have any relief from her pain in her chest and her head, and to boot she woke up sicker than a dog the next morning. I guess that is what narcotics do for you.

Wednesday, even though she was ill in the morning, she pushed through and was able to go with her mom and her one and only nephew Roman to the children’s museum in Everett. They had lots of fun exploring the museum inside and out, but the one thing they kept going back to was one of Roman’s favorites; the trains! By days Sarah was starting to feel a bit better. However, she still was having a significant amount of pain in her body so a solution was definitely needed.

Thursday she had an appointment with the pain specialist at SCCA. He told her to increase her long acting pain medication to 3 times a day instead of the two. When she first started taking this medication, she was told that if she ever upped the dose she would have a couple of days where she felt quite tired. With the current increase she is feeling very tired, but it has enabled her to get some much needed sleep.

Friday I called the infusion clinic and was able to get an earlier appointment. Lately Sarah has needed to get 2 liters of fluid each visit. Each liter takes about four hours and so when we normally start that process at 6 we end up being there until something like 2 in the morning. They were able to get her in at 1:30 so we happily headed home at about 10:00 went back in for more fluids. This time Sarah opted not to get any IV pain medication although she desperately needed it. However, because she had gotten so sick from it the time before, and because her pain specialist asked her not to she went without.

Saturday Sarah went with me to a silent auction dinner to benefit the booster clubs at Glacier Peak High School. I was hired as the IT guy for the night and just needed to be there to make sure everything ran smoothly. Overall everything was a lot of fun. Sarah and I had a great time walking around and we even bid on a few silent auction items. However, by the end of the night Sarah desperately needed to get home. Sarah’s stomach still isn’t at full strength and so our dinner didn’t sit that well with her. By the time we made it home she was in desperate need of anti-nausea meds.

Sarah spent Saturday night and early Sunday morning tossing and turning. She tried to read, played a game on her phone and got up a few times to stretch her legs and back. Her pain and upset stomach kept her up just about until my alarm clock went off. When my alarm goes off and I look over at my wife who is sitting up smiling I know she didn’t have a good night. Sarah tried to sleep for a couple more hours but sleeplessness and her running mind took over. I know that she has a lot to think about, but I know she has to get some sleep in order to function.

Chemotherapy, surgeries, radiation…they all do some nasty things to your body and Sarah has had her fair share of lasting effects. The battle we are fighting now is getting back to normal when we don’t know what normal is anymore. I’m sure it will come but how long must we wait?

Thanks for reading and sending your concerns via comments that Sarah gets on her phone. She feels very special knowing that her support system is praying at a moment’s notice.

-Kirk