Not So Fast.....

Hope everyone is doing well today. I have a LOT of information to report, so I'm going to get right to it.

Thank you all so much for the prayers and good thoughts today. As I told my family, I believe God is intentional in His timing. Things did not go as planned today.

I did not have chemo and it will be at least another week or two before I begin.

I arrived at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at 8:15. I was taken back to the lab almost immediately. The nurse pricked my finger and took a small amount of blood to be tested, then handed me 2 tubes for Dr. Yardley's nurse to draw blood through my port. I was then taken back to a room. Dr. Yardley came in and went over the chemo drugs I would be receiving, as well as the drugs I would be sent home with, most of them for nausea. They also included an antibiotic to have on hand, just in case I need it. She sent Bill (the nurse) in to draw blood and get the site started before taking me to the chemo room. He injected the needle, which was quite large as far as needles go. It was angled at the end. Now....maybe I'm a wimp.....no, I'm sure I'm a wimp. I don't like needles. Remember that as you read on......

It hurt going in. Not for long, but it did hurt. He then proceeded to press on the site, trying to get a return. I learned today that by return he meant he was looking for blood to come out of the site and into the tubing. He injected a saline solution and got no return. He said the chemo nurse would look at it and we'd go from there. So we went on to the chemo room.

I found a seat (they have recliners for the chemo patients) and was shown where they had a refrigerator stocked with cokes and juice, a snack basket and a coffee machine. I was given a pillow and there were blankets available as well. A few minutes later the nurse manager came over and said they were going to work on getting my port going. She also tried to get a return, to no avail. At this point, we discussed taking the needle out and placing it again, this time with a longer needle. Had I known the needle would be the one I was keeping in all day, I would've asked Bill to make sure he used the longer needle. Dr. Cooper warned me this could happen. She asked if I minded and I told her no, as long as I could have that anti-anxiety drug. She laughed, but I was serious. That needle HURT going in. She brought over what I now refer to as "magic spray". It's akin to that stuff you use to clean out your computer keyboard. I think it's referred to as 'canned air'. She sprayed it at the injection site and it was COLD. But it numbed my skin enough so that I didn't feel the needle stick quite as bad. However, still no return. At this point, she said there could be a blood clot in the end of it (the end that is inside my body) and she injected a medication called Activase. It would sit there and dissolve any clots that happened to be there. She went on to explain, in great detail, each medication I would be receiving and their side effects. She set an egg timer for 15 minutes and we waited. At the 15 minute mark she came back and checked, but still no return. She let the medication work for over an hour. Still no return. They tried having me lay back with my arms up and leaning forward and coughing. Still nothing.

Bill, Dr. Yardley's nurse, came by and gave me my options. He said I could go ahead and have chemo injected into an IV in my arm (uh....no thanks) and then go have a test run on the port to see if it was working properly, or I could go ahead and have the test run, then come back later in the day for chemo, or come back tomorrow for chemo. I chose to go ahead and have the test run. He left the needle and tubing place, and sent me to the hospital.

The imaging department took me right away and I was taken to a room with a LARGE x-ray machine and lots of monitors. I was lying flat on my back and the x-ray tech, Tara, went to work on me. She took a picture of the port site and right away noticed that the needle was in the wrong spot. WHAT??? WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S IN THE WRONG SPOT? Turns out the needle was placed just to the side of the port, and that's why there was no return of blood. And guess what that meant? You got it! They had to take the needle out AGAIN and replace it. And no magic spray this time. Once Tara got the needle in properly (she checked it on x-ray) she injected the dye and found the port to be working correctly. At this point, I thought I was home free. Not so fast.....

Tara gave the x-ray pictures to the radiologist. He came in to talk to me and by the look on his face, I knew something was wrong. He proceeded to tell me that the end of the port had somehow moved. Now, you have to understand, the port isn't just the triangle part (see the picture I posted on my last post). It has a very long tube, roughly 9-12 inches long, on the end of it. The end of the tube is somewhere toward the right side of my rib cage, while the triangle part is on the left side. Back to the port movement........he said the tube could've moved when I sneezed or coughed really hard. It could've just moved on it's own, just because the body moves and it just happens sometimes. He said he was not comfortable with signing off on chemo at this point. The port will have to be removed and then replaced. He said if we go ahead and do chemo, it could bust the end of the vein and chemo would end up in my chest cavity and around my lungs. Basically, had I had chemo today, it could've ended very badly for me. In the chemo room I sent a text message to 7 people, asking them to pray for me. I had in mind praying for the port to work today. Turns out God used the delay and turned it into a blessing. Sounds about right for Him, doesn't it?

I have not spoken to Dr. Cooper or Dr. Yardley this afternoon. Bill called me after I left the hospital, asking me once again if I'd like to go ahead and have chemo in an IV. I declined the offer. I did not go through getting a port put in so that I could have chemo in my arm. If I was fighting an active tumor, I might think differently, but at this point, chemo is a preventive and 'just in case' measure. I do not feel the need to rush it. Bill understood, and said they would get with Dr. Cooper and let him know what needs to be done. If I don't hear from him tomorrow, I will call his scheduler and see what I need to do next.

The last few days I have been very nervous. When I get nervous I clean my kitchen. You should see how clean my sink is!! I felt as though I were walking into a lion's den. In Daniel 6:16, the king who threw Daniel into the lion's den said to him, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!" I love how the king could not eat or sleep that night and the next morning hurried to the lion's den to see if Daniel had been rescued. And in verse 23, the writer states that "no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." I love it that God is faithful beyond my wildest dreams and continues to amaze me.

I will post again soon, when I have more information on the port replacement. Thank you, again, for all the prayers, cards, good thoughts and facebook messages. I have said it before and I will say it again: I praise God for you all and do not know how people get through things such as this without God and without friends and family. Especially, I want to thank Greta and my Momma for bringing dinner to us. Even though I didn't have chemo, we are gonna enjoy the good food!

Everyone enjoy this nice weather we're having. Maybe I'll take you for a ride in the convertible! :)

Love and hugs! -