April 18th thru 21st

April 18^th-  NO BABY YET!  Libby and I are up at 4am and headed to Houston, my first appt. with the Radi/Onco group introduces me to maybe the best nurse yet, Kay Kidwell.  Wow, she is a fountain of information and pretty much gets me covered on all the process of when, how, how much, and type of process to expect during the radiation process for IBC patients.  Twice a day, five days a week for up to 6 weeks is not unusual and she wants me to be ready for intentional redness, this is different for than the process for regular breast patients.  She is very thorough.  Next comes in Dr. Karen Hoffman, a very personable young doctor “stolen from Harvard”.  She is a brain and just sweet as pie.  Deep breathe in.  Deep breathe out.  Once again, I feel very secure in my choice of professionals and a sense of peace is beginning to enter to shove out the scary bits.

Now during all this process today, Libby discovers that she made it out of the house without her drugs.  So we have been on the phone with Medco and Walgreens several times just to get what she needs for overnight meds.  Here I have my BFF on the road without her BP meds!  Yikes.  We go to lunch out of the complex and into the Melrose area where Walgreens has a location.  I nearly get smacked for walking in front of this beefy looking Nazi, but we just eyeball each other and keep walking.  Still without drugs we leave in a cab with the nicest man, who informs us that we have just been in the most notoriously gay area of Houston.  Now I get it, I said, “excuse me, honey,” to that man and he was insulted. Duh!

Chemo #3 is at 3:30, and we again go through the process of going to the infusion therapy area to get the needle inserted in my port before chemo.  Alex does an even better job than Esper did last week.  The key is that numbing cream, leaving it on and covered with plastic an hour before going up is really helping.

Libby and I traded text messages and phone calls with Kelsey all day.  Evie is still in “docking position” but no eminent delivery.  This time chemo is a little easier, but still takes over 4 hours.  We share a sandwich, still listening to all of Kelsey’s messages, and leave the center about 7:30 or so.  Marriott check in with the same idiot of a desk person, Armand, and finally get to our room.  Mother calls and we talk while Libby finally gets to retrieve her drugs.

We go up to the consigers lounge and drink about 4 bottles of water each and crash back in our rooms.

April 19- up and out of Houston on the 9am direct flight to Midland.  Heck, I am at work by 11am.  Seem to have a ton of energy and I work all day until about 6:30pm. 

April 20 – another good day.  Work all day, even through lunch with my homemade soup and meet Nita at 5:30 for an early dinner.  She gets on out of town and I go over to Libby’s.  She and Carolyn are working on the christening gown for Evie.  The smocking that Carolyn has done on the antique pillowcases, from my grandma Madison, is amazing.  I cry for the first time since the 11^th, but not in pain this time, with a heart bursting from love from good friends.  Kelsey, Andy and Evie will have a true treasure to share for generations.

April 21- oh, slow down there Lucy!  OK, obviously, Thursday’s are my heading south days. This one doesn’t seem as bad as last week, but definitely less energy, tummy upset and the ulcers and throat are painful to swallowing or breathing.  Thank the Lord and Charla for the Xyloxylin wash.  It gives me enough relief to get food down.