Too Much Information?

If not for my faith, I seriously would have thought that I was dying this weekend. Upon being disconnected from my FOLFIRI chemo on Friday, they infused me for another hour with a new drug, Vectibex, that’s supposed to enhance the effectiveness of chemo. Boy, did it do a number on me. I couldn’t keep anything down that I tried to get into my system, and I was so constipated that I couldn’t get anything out that was previously there.  Get this…I drank two cups of laxative tea (threw it up), drank two tablespoons of milk of magnesia (threw it up), took 4 co-lace/stool softeners (threw ‘em up), used two fleet enemas (fissures and hemorrhoids made them too painful to withstand. Believe it or not, I lost 12 pounds within 24 hours and was drastically weak and dehydrated. My friend, Cindy Flaschner, drove up with her daughter, Emily, for the weekend from Simi Valley. Being the best hostess ever, I was curled up in fetal position on my floor and tried to talk but couldn’t. I hate for people to see me weak so had to ask her to leave. L She took Kami with her to a hotel and the three girls played for a couple days. Cindy, I insist on a redo visit! Thank you for being soooo understanding and helpful! You are a tremendous friend!

Finally, at 7 pm, I knew something had to be done or I was going to have to go to the hospital. Eric and Larry gave me a priesthood blessing for healing. For those not familiar with priesthood blessings, it’s a very special blessing given by men in our church who worthily hold the priesthood. They lay their hands on my head and offer a special prayer inspired by God. No matter your faith, the facts are facts. Within five minutes of the blessing, I had runny stool. I fell asleep for an hour and woke with an urgent need to empty my bowels, so to speak. I hobbled as quickly as I could to the bathroom, but just before entering the toilet room (though safely in the bathroom), my bowels released on their own. My pants and socks filled with the “runs.” Yep, 31 years old and I crapped my pants. Being the best husband in the world, Eric cleaned everything! He must love me.

Then, Leyna came to me saying she needed to pee, but didn’t want to because she felt like she had a reflection and it hurt. I realized she meant to say infection, so smugly old her to go before she peed her pants then to take a warm bath with me. She was so afraid of the pain; she didn’t go until she ended up peeing all over the boys’ bathroom floor. Low and behold, Gavin waited too long to pee and when he went to relieve himself and saw Leyna’s urine on the floor, he didn’t want to use his bathroom. So he hobbled down the hall to the girls’ bathroom, peeing all the way. Again, Eric cleaned it all up. He came in to me and asked, “How does our 6 year old pee his pants?!” “Can’t ask me,” I replied, “your wife just pooped her pants.” It was disgustingly comical.  

Monday night, my friend Tanja and her kids walked in with bags of groceries. While the kids played and I layed lifeless on the couch, Tanja made us a big pot of broccoli/potato/carrot/cheese soup and a batch of bran muffins. How fortunate are we to have such great friends?

Tuesday, Larry and Kaden drove me to my vitamin c infusion appointment in Davis. I felt a bit better for a couple hours, fell asleep, then woke up nauseas and sick again. I’ve been living off zofran. Threw up Tuesday night but have kept everything down today. Doc gave me aloe pills to help with constipation and those seemed to work great today. Now we’re eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Raymond family and Mark, Lori and Jaydin. Lokking forward to a great Thanksgiving!