There Was (Almost) a Roadblock
Today has been interesting. It’s been interesting in several ways. First, there was the job of disconnecting CeeCee, our camper, from her lifeline of electricity, water, and sewer lines, and remembering to lift the jacks and put the slide in before pulling out of the trailer park. As she slugged around the bend, a man from another site came running toward me with his hand pointing up in the air. Was he trying to tell me about the solar eclipse? Maybe a low flying plane? Maybe he just had a sore muscle that he was stretching. I slowed and rolled down my window, “Your TV antenna is still up,” he told me.
Crap. I am such a glamping rookie. TV antenna. The thought of even having one while camping makes me giggle. I pulled over, went back and rolled the antenna down. Then we were off to the races. Off like a herd of turtles. I drove CeeCee into downtown Rochester and parked in front of the YMCA, dropped off the girls and headed for the hospital. Today, hopefully, John’s pain would be low enough that he would be up for therapy in the camper. Physical Therapy planned to help him learn how to navigate the steps and I had coordinated special parking with
the valet parking people. I hoped that the spots would be free, and as I pulled in…. they were! Score! I slid CeeCee into position, feeling very naughty. This was truly a unique experience, I felt naughty because I could have gone in there, cooked supper, taken a nap, taken a shower, and never have paid for parking. But she was parked here for John. His therapy was scheduled for 1:00pm, the same time that thunderstorms were forecasted. The therapy team didn’t know if we would be able to get out there today or not due to the weather.
It turned out that the weather at 1:00pm was perfect. So perfect that we were able to see the solar eclipse. There was no therapy. Why, you ask? Because John had some new pain under his rib cage and the team wanted a CT scan to see if there was another blood clot. The CT scan happened during the time he would have been doing therapy. He got back just in time to see the solar eclipse, though! I rushed back and forth between this courtyard and his room, checking to see if he was back from the scan in time to see the eclipse. In an effort to relive my childhood, I made a paper pinhole camera. It worked really well, and there were a lot of staff that wanted to check it out. Turns out I still remember my 4th grade science lesson from 1979, when I saw the last solar eclipse. Ms. Kalk was pretty stern, but her lesson for this sure did stick!
After the eclipse, the skies immediately clouded up, and we waited for the CT scan results. If there were a clot, John would be in the hospital for longer to treat it. If there wasn’t, then they would plan to assess his increased pain after wrapping his leg overnight. Our gut instinct was that his increased activity in rehab, along with the fact he was bearing a little weight on that leg for the first time in three months was causing some irritation and increased pain. We would have to wait and see.
The results came back, and the CT scan showed NO BLOOD CLOT! Wow, we dodged a bullet there! This was something that hasn’t happened as often as we would have liked on this journey! Both of us sighed with relief. Ok, I actually started crying from relief. The CT scan also showed NO NEW AREAS OF CANCER ACTIVITY!!! The one lung met has grown, but John hasn’t had chemo for two months. It’s great news that there are no NEW mets in the lungs! More celebration.
So tonight we rewrap his leg and hope that he gets some rest and can tackle therapy again tomorrow. CeeCee will make another appearance at the front circle drive of the hospital. Only three more days of rehab, then John is discharged! He comes back on Friday for outpatient surgery to replace his port – that’s a completely different and completely frustrating story. But AFTER that….. WE. GO. HOME. Hopefully for a very long time! And hopefully, there will be no more roadblocks on the way!
