Melba's Version

Michelle still woke with tightness in her neck and shoulders Monday morning - hadn't slept well, but that may have been due to sleeping a lot of Sunday after taking the Benedryl and Lorazepam pills, which cause drowsiness and relaxation. It is discouraging to say the least. So I stopped in at Oncology Monday morning to try and get some questions answered - it was BUSY so went on to work to wait for phone calls from the pharmacist, nurse, and social worker. Some questions got answered but not regarding why she is not feeling better. SO, we will definitely find a nurse when we go in for blood draw on Tuesday morning to try for some answers.

On the positive side, she has not had the possible side affects of nausea, vomiting, etc. etc. - still, it's hard to be jumping for joy when she feels lousy. But she is still being more courageous than I would be - gave herself her neupogen shot, which builds up the white blood cells. And she cleans the 2 tubes of the Hickman catheter, which takes scrubbing one's hands for 3 minutes (like ya see the doctors and nurses do on TV before they go in to surgery), iodine cleaning of the opening then attaching the syringe to the Hickman and pushing the Heperin through, making sure that the tube is closed afterward so blood can't escape. It all must be kept almost sterile to keep out any germs or bacteria and most people leave the whole job to the professionals and she's determined to take care of that herself - doing an awesome job!

We will try to keep you up every few days or once a week as time goes on. Keep her in prayer for her body to feel better soon.