Going Home

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do." ~Confucius~

My friend, Ann, gave me a book mark a while ago with this quote on it when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and the quote really stuck with me so much that is has kind of become my motto. Well, I certainly have fallen again and I have gotten up. Right now the only thing I want to do is go home and be in my house with my family and get some real rest. It has been a difficult week, more so than the week I had my original surgery. I am sure within a few days I will be feeling a little stronger! If you don't hear from me over the rest of the weekend don't panic. I am probably sleeping!!!!

I'm bacckkkkk!

Hello, hello, hello!!!!!

I am sitting at Hotel Froedert right now as I blog. John brought down his laptop this morning with a cup of coffee and an egg mcmuffin (I know, I know, but honestly I have not eating much in the past week, the food sucks here and I am starving!)

This will be a pretty long post, so I hope you are not nodding off by the end.

The two days after chemo went well until Friday night when I spiked a fever of 101.9 and was sent to the clinic for blood work (normal WBC counts will drop around day 5, so it was kind of unlikely they said that anything was wrong). I checked out okay, went home and by Sunday night spiked a fever of 103.5 and a very bright red breast (the bad boob, as I refer to it). Unfortunately my WBC, white blood count, was 300. Normal is 3,000-10,000. Not good. There proved to be infection in my right breast just by looking at it, so an overnight stay with IV antibiotics was in store. Ok, I can handle that. Just to let you know the ER was fabulous there. I was seen right away, not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing LOL meaning how much trouble is this lady in. LOL

Up to the floor, get checked in, all hooked up, pump the fluids, glad to be back NOT. This part is a bit graphic so if you get queasy feel free to go on to the next paragraph. On the way to the bathroom I sprung a leak in a small incision in my breast which was filled fill pus. Within 2 hours I was back in surgery to remove the soft tissue expander. There was no way they could leave it in with my white count so low.

Since that time my blood count has gone back up!! My electrolytes, sodium, potassium, all that stuff is coming around. My hemoglobin and hematocrit where really low so I ended up having a blood transfusion on Wednesday. I actually perked up after that.

I am honestly an emotional wreck right now. Physically I am pretty good. During all of this Sunny was supposed to have her ACL repaired on Thursday. They preoperatively did an x-ray of her leg to check everything out and found that she has bone cancer. I spent the day on Thursday crying about my dog. I am still having trouble taking this all in. Those who know me know that I love my Sunny girl. My heart breaks for her. She is still the same old Sunny for now. We will deal with the disease as it comes and go from there.

I would like to thank all my friends, family, neighbors and Komen sisters for all your prayers and support. As I have said before, I could not be doing this alone. Although I have a deep inner strength I never knew I had, I do need help, so I thank you all from the bottom of my heart!!!!!! Thank you Jess for updating my blog, Cathy for AGAIN always being there, my friends Connie and Sara from the Komen boards who have kept all my sisters updated and helped me along the way with encouraging words and Lisa, the wig lady, who so graciously came by my hospital room with my wig to show me and make sure the color was right (and it was, it is so cute), my hubbie who is a wreck with me right now, trying to carry on as usual, my immediate family who have kept my spirits up and kept me going, the wonderful, kind caring staff I had this time around (I had some great nurses) and everyone else that has played any kind of part in this ordeal!!!

I look forward to going home TOMORROW!!!!!

Love to you all, Gail

Still in the Hospital

Gail's doctor expects that she will be in the hospital another 24-48 hours. Here is what has been going on:

• She had to have a blood transfusion because her hemoglobin and hematocrit were very low.
• After the transfusion she felt better immediately. She actually ate something. :)
• Her potassium and electrolytes are out of whack so she is on additional supplements.
• Her white count is up to 22,000. Yesterday it was 2200. When she went in it was 300.
• She is off her IV antibiootics and is just taking oral antibiotics. She is not hooked up to any additional fluid right now, which is a good thing.

She says thank you for all the prayers, phone calls and food. :)

Update

Gail's surgery went well. She expects to be in the hospital 2-3 days.

Back to the Hospital

This is Gail's niece Jessica. She asked me to post a quick update. Today she went back to the hospital for an infection in her right breast, as well as a low white blood count. The infection has gotten worse and she is going to have surgery tonight to remove the expander, as the infection is sitting on the plastic. She has been pumped with antibiotics all day as well.

She expects to be in the hospital at least another day or two (originally she expected to go home tomorrow, but that is unlikely).

Please be praying for her and the doctors. I will update again when I hear more.

Hit by the Train

Good morning! As you can see I have not posted in a few days. The weekend did a number on me. I woke up Friday night with terrible chills, no fever, and by morning had a pounding headache and a 101.9 fever. According to my doc instructions I was to call if I had a fever over 100.5 with chills. I had to go into the infusion clinic at Froedert for a blood test to check my white count. They said it would be unusual for my blood count to drop that quickly (it usually happens about a week out). Blood work was fine, my fever came down and they called it a fluke but to keep an eye on it in case the fever went up. I layed on the couch with a nasty headache and body aches all day and night. I slept pretty well last night and today feel somewhat human, although not my usual self. Hopefully, I will get better as the day goes on.