Nurses make all the difference!

Today has been a long day for Kelly. She did pretty good with her chemo until the last hour or so. That is usually when it hits her. We did use the seeds again, but sometimes no matter what we do, it is impossible to avoid getting sick. But, as Kelly said herself today, " It could be much worse... it's not that bad." She also had a bad reaction to one of her anti-nausea meds. She gets a dose at the end of her treatment right before we go home. It is the one that makes her a little silly and a bit out of it. We use a wheelchair to get her to the car. (Thanks Trina!) Well, she had lots of fun with the wheelchair, especially while she waited for me to make her next appointments. But by the time we got to the car, she seemed more out of it than usual. As we drove out of the parking garage, she started noted all the things she was seeing two of. She had never experienced double vision before, and I was a little worried since that is not a good sign with a brain tumor patient, so I drove around the block and went right back to the clinic. Her nurse looked up the side effects of the last med they had given her, and double vision was one of them (along with all the other symptoms she was having.) She was also getting upset about being so confused. So at least we knew it was the medication. Now we know just to give her less next time so she doesn't have those reactions. She is comfortable in bed right now and hopefully will feel a lot better tomorrow. We sure learn along the way what works and what doesn't work.

I can't say enough about the nurses at the CHOC oncology clinic. They were just wonderful with her today (as usual.) Thanks so much Dana and Trina for making her day so much easier. She loves how these nurses spend time with her and make the day go faster. Welcome to CHOC, Trina, we are so glad you are here. And thanks to Dana, who came out to the car to check on Kelly when I was so worried about her and then called me when we got home to make sure she was OK. And Sarah, we're glad you came in for our weekly movie talk. Sometimes it is hard for Kelly to keep going back for these treatments and appointments, but she looks forward to seeing her nurses and that makes it easier to keep going back. The first photo below is Kelly and Dana. Below that is Kelly with Sarah.

Our girls have Spring Break next week! Since our family hasn't been away together for more than a day or two in a long time, we are going up to the mountains. We have a friend on our Relay for Life team who is letting us use her cabin. Thank you so much Marilyn! We are excited to get up there and have some relaxing time together. We do have to take Kelly to the clinic first next Monday morning. Her doctor wants to check her out, have her labs checked and make sure she is OK before we take her away for the rest of the week.

Relay for Life is April 19-20. There is still time to join us, donate or order a luminaria. Thank you so much to those of you that have joined us or made donations to the American Cancer Society through our Relay for Life Team.
TEAM KELLY page: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/kellylaude