Fr. Tony Update: Back to Cancer Center and Ramblings

It's amazing to think that just two short weeks ago, Tony was mobile, fairly pain free, driving and taking services with no problems. For the past week he's been immobile, in pain, and not able to drive or take services. I guess this is SOP (standard operating procedure) till the doctor's get this cancer stuff hog-tied and pinned down!

Yesterday Tony's ankles began to swell. He's also been having what seems an allergic reaction to something. Not sure if it's one of the many meds, spring in the air, or what. His ankles seem painful, even when he's not applying pressure to them by walking. So, off to the cancer center for them to do some labwork and check him over, then back home to "watch and wait". We return on Thursday for a follow-up, with instructions to increase his pain meds, watch the ankles for discoloration, more pain, and/or more swelling.

You can be sure Tony's got the doctors puzzled, and to add insult to injury, his current ankle situation forces everyone to struggle with whether it's a "bone" or "blood" issue.... two very different creatures. I'm sure there's the makings of a medical book in all this..... somewhere! Maybe it's time we build an addition on the house, and make life easier for everyone... by moving our oncologist and a few nurses in. I'm happy to feed them and do their laundry! grin

As you can imagine, this is not the most pleasant journey one would willingly venture into, but we also realize it could be worse. Fortunately we have the support of family, friends (near and far), parishioners and medical staff to keep us going.

I was reminded of this while Tony was in hospital, and there was a woman 2 rooms down from him. She had no family to be with her, and obviously suffered from some short term memory issues. It was clear she couldn't remember from one urgent moment to the next, that she'd been seen to previously. This meant her "nurse call" button went off frequently while she hollered in a most mournful voice either: "Pleeeeaaaaassseeee, someone help me"; "Pleeeeaasssseeeee, I need a bed pan"; or "Pleeeeeaaaaassseeeee, I need a drink"... and so on.

These mournful pleadings began first thing in the morning, and lasted till she fell sound asleep at night. At least she was polite about her requests, but the staff were quite clearly tired of her demands, especially when she insisted each time that "no one was answering her calls".

You can probably tell, I'd much prefer doing social work then poking and prodding on folks, and keeping up with "math"... as a nurse. I would so love to be a social worker, but unfortunately it requires many, many years of schooling to get an MSW degree.

Before we left hospital, we sent a base full of daffodils down to her, in hopes of brightening up her dark and lonely room. If I didn't have my hands full, and were more qualified to help, I'd seriously consider spending time with her. Why they won't hire enough staff to manage patients like her, is beyond me. I felt so badly, since this reminded me how often I ponder the issue of cancer patients having no support network.

I'm so very thankful I'm able to be by Tony's side, helping him along, making sure he gets the care he needs (sometimes to the chagrin of the medical professionals.. grin), but how do other folks' do it? How do they manage? Were I to be working a full time job to sustain us, it would be totally impossible for me to keep up with Tony's appointments, care, aches, pains, meds, cleaning, feeding, grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc.

Some say we shouldn't have socialized medicine in this country, and when you take into consideration the legions of ways our government manages to bungle things up, I can understand. But, there are countries who provide medical and social services, and do it very well! In those countries, families don't have to worry they'll be living in a cardboard box, as a result of the cost of medical care and prescriptions. While we were in France, one of Tony's prescriptions (same exact brand he took here... cost $750 a month to fill in the states) cost only 70 Euros a month.

Then there's the nagging question... "How are all these pills, potions and treatments affecting other parts of Tony's body"? It's sort of like the old saying, We won the battle but lost the war. Will we get the cancer under control before his kidneys are wiped out? Will the use of steroids cause bone damage, and the gloomy resulting possibilities? There seems to always be something to be concerned about, but I guess folks just get used to it. Then again, I'm supposed to be "letting go" and let God manage it all... right? :)

When it's all said and done, way on down the cancer road, we'll probably owe the equivalent of the national debt. THANK GOD for Blue Cross and Blue Shield! Hopefully all these oddball side issues that continue to pop up will eventually be a thing of the past, and we can look back on them knowing we overcame many obstacles to get him better.

TREE MAN IS HERE!

There's a massive bit of machinery in our front yard that sounds like a hungry beast, eating its way through the earth to China! Chips! Chips! Chips! Mulch! Mulch! Mulch!

MUST GET MOTIVATED!

I'm not sure if it's the long months of winter, lack of sunlight, increased meds and beta blockers, or STRESS (gee, ya think?) but I've not had much motivation to tend to things that need tending to, outside of Tony's care and school. I'm hoping that with spring having arrived, I'll begin to be more motivated. Were I to drop dead today, folks would shake their head at the number of projects I've got unfinished!

New goals:

1. Get a physical and get my fanny joined up at Healthworks. Must shed post-hyster "fluff".
2. Start finishing projects and finish sorting out boxes and supplies.
3. Get flowerbeds, dirt tracks, garage and backyard cleaned up.
4. Work on getting DOK started at Becket, if enough ladies are interested.
5. Get cars seen to.
6. Get and Stay on top of things!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!!

I hope you made it to the outer banks, as planned, and had a truly wonderful time!