Friday, August 22, 2008 - Another Weekend???

Hiya Bloggy!

Well, the creators of Blogspot have made some new features and changed the look of the behind the scenes of Bloggy... and so far, I think I like it. Interestingly enough, when I come over here it tells me when I last updated Bloggy! Yikes!! Where has the time gone??? Last update was Aug 10th??? HELLO?? That was 12 days ago!! I swear it was only a couple of days ago that I last babbled here in bloggy-land!

Hehe... what I was going to do is come over here and put a little one-paragraph post to say that I hadn't forgotten Bloggy and that I would try to get back in tomorrow and put in a proper post. Ha!! Since when can I just do a small, one-paragraph post?? Has anyone ever known me to do just a one paragraph babble in email? Or in real life?? Nooooo... I'm a babbler, so I may as well babble here and then go to bed. After all, it appears to be a night of insomnia, so I may as well get something accomplished in case I end up actually sleeping in this morning ;)

So, how many of you are watching the Olympics?? You can post in the Comments section below this post! Anyone who knows me knows I have no patience for Sports, in particular, Professional Sports. I just think the professional athletes are paid way too much and once they become professional, they've lost that competitive edge. But what really makes me mad, and I can't talk for all countries, but will speak of Canada, we as a country do NOT support our athletes who are training to try and be the next Olympian... yet we expect them to all bring back medals. This just does not compute for me... how can we expect them to be the best in their sport when a lot of them have to leave Canada (on their own dime) to go train in other countries because we won't spend the bucks to be proud of them and train them at home?? There is all this debate as to whether the government should spend the money on amateur sports (my thoughts are YES they should), but ok, if the government were to only pay for part of the cost, where are all these professional athletes with multi-million dollar contracts. Why aren't they supporting and financing the next generation of athletes coming up? Oh, I could go on and on on this topic, but I think you get my drift. If we aren't going to support them, then we have to suck it up and realize that Canada will never be a country with a lot of medals... and bravo to those that do win without our support!

But, back to Cheryl's life, since this is what Bloggy is all about... remember, it's all about ME! :)

Today was an interesting day... kind of a back to reality sort of day. I had to be at VGH Hospital at 11am for the Chest CAT scan. I must admit, I did cause a little drama for the staff at the Hospital. Even though 11am is not considered "early", it is still morning... and my legs/feet don't work that well in the morning. Well, I got there on time and all and when I came out of the changing room, that's when the excitement began. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my left foot was still numb with the neuropathy and my left leg just kind of buckled. I could feel myself starting to topple over, so I reached out for the wall to try and break the fall, but no such luck. It all happened so quickly and I fell, bashing my head against the wall, twice on the way down. It was the sound of the bashing on the wall that alerted the staff... within a second I had 6 doctors and nurses surrounding me

I have to admit, I was a bit stunned and found myself on my back and have no idea how I got down there so quickly. Of course, they were concerned about the head, but I was quickly back to myself, told them that I was alright and that "I just did it to get attention and it seems to have worked". :)

Right now, I couldn't tell you what is more tender... my head or my legs. Neither liked falling and I just know I'm going to pay for this today or Saturday!

But, I did get the CAT scan done and I'll be meeting up with the oncologist on Tuesday, I believe the appt. is in the morning (oh geez, here we go again with a morning appt.). I also had blood work taken today and that is for the Tumour Marker test.. the one that measures the levels of CEA in my blood. This is just a tool but it's the one now that makes me nervous. It was back in Feb when the CEA was elevated so this is why Sharlene ordered a PET scan for me... and it was that PET scan that found the adrenal gland and spot on the lung light up. Well, the adrenal gland has been taken out, so logically speaking, the CEA level should now be down. I will be seeing Sharlene a week today, and she will have the results from that test and I sure hope it shows the levels are down.

Soooo, once again, I need all your positive thoughts to be focusing on the Tumour Marker test... that the CEA levels are low to 0.

There is so much to talk about, but once again, this entry is getting long!! For instance, we closed the TUTS season and two shows last weekend. It was with relief and sadness... relief because I was starting to get tired so a good break and rest was needed, but sad because I have soooo much fun and support with this group. Of course, I'm not really, really sad because I get to still volunteer down at the office during the Fall/Winter/Spring with James and Jill. James is the General Manager and Jill is the Operations Manager and I am, well, Administration... so the three of us hang out in the office, closing off everything to do with this season and starting up the new season. Here is a picture of my two buddies, James and Jill:

I took this last Saturday on closing night, but for the life of me, I don't remember where we were or when it was taken!

Hmmm... perhaps it was at the closing night party? Because there is this picture that I took that I think is just fantastic!! All the directors, choreographers, music directors, etc. were standing up behind this mike because they were presenting the annual awards. Well, these went on for awhile and poor Gillian, the Director of Jesus Christ Superstar, was obviously suffering from standing on her feet in heels. So I don't think anyone else noticed, but I saw her slip out of her shoes to relieve her poor feet. I had to use the zoom, and then I added a few special effects... but I think this picture came out fabulous...



Hehe... for those of you who are on Facebook, I have my little bear, Pattycakes, who is starting her own adventures. Another friend of mine, Kevin Michael Cripps, has a little bear, Igor, who has been on many an adventure. Igor has gone to New York and London this summer and has the pictures to prove it. Pattycakes is not so world-travelled so she is quite intrigued with Igor. I can see something brewing here if these two ever meet up, which I know they will. Anywho, as soon as I have some free time, I will be setting up an album on Facebook for Pattycakes and her photo adventures. I won't put them all here, but here are a couple of Pattycake photos...

Bridget and Pattycakes on security duty down at the theatre.

Very sweet! Pattycakes putting Bridget to bed. The two of them really do get along quite well together.

Oh dear! Pattycakes at a bar and getting quite annoyed that no one has come to take her drink order yet!!

So, as you can see, Pattycakes does get around and I am putting together her own album of photos which will be posted on Facebook :)

Ok, I'm sure there are other things to report... like I now have my fantastic, fabulous, wonderful, perfect iPhone!!! It's everything the hype has said it would be and I find myself using if for a lot more than I ever thought I would use it. I just love it!! Hahaha.. if I weren't so tired now, I would take a picture of it and upload it to this entry, but this will have to wait until another entry! I am going to head to bed because my eyes are finally getting sleepy!!

Sooooo, until the next time, adios!!! And keep sending those positive, healing thoughts... we are going back into healing mode and preparation mode for the next battle.. the lung surgery!!

Ciao!

Cheryl

Sunday, Aug 10, 2008 - Busy Week

Hiya Bloggy,

So, "busy week" is a bit of an understatement if I do say so myself! Not only have I just finished a busy week, but I'm about to go into a really busy week, what with it being the final week of TUTS. And let's just hope the weather gods are going to be in our favour for this last week.

Last night was not really a pretty sight as those deep, dark, gray clouds hung around all day, and then the rains came. The rains did stop around 6pm so we thought we were going to be lucky, but sure enough, they had to start up again around intermission. They then stopped again but started up in earnest just before the show came down. But hey, you can't say we aren't prepared! This IS Vancouver after all and when it looks like we may be hit with some rain, we prepare our outdoor audience with... rain ponchos!!! :D

Hehe... don't they look cute?? It's actually a rather ingenius idea. A local insurance company pays for them, in return, they get to put their advertising on the back and we have the Theatre Under The Stars logo on the front. Meanwhile, if it IS a performance in the rain, people stay dry.

But even so, there are some people that just amaze me with their selfishness. When they purchase tickets, they know up front that once the ticket is purchased it is only good for that performance. There are no refunds or exchanges because the weather is not something we have control over and this IS an outdoor theatre where the audience is under the open skies. That is what makes seeing "theatre under the stars" such a unique experience. When people buy their tickets, and they purchase them during good weather, they have no qualms about the rain policy... but heaven forbid should they buy them early to get good seats and then that night it turns out to be a wet night. The names they call us and the attitude they have on the phone when they call to ask if the show is going to be cancelled because of the weather and we say no... the show will go on!

We have had everything from "You are only in the business to rip off your audiences!" to "How do you expect me to bring my 78 yr. old mother to watch theatre in the rain???" Uh... we don't expect you to do anything... we didn't twist your arms to buy tickets, this was your choice. We didn't tell you you can't bring 78 year old mothers to an outdoor theatre, it was you that chose who you were going to bring. So where is it our fault that your mother can't attend when we have always been up front and said the show goes on rain or shine and the only reason we would ever cancel would be if there were an electrical storm (hence the crew who are in the follow spot towers might be in danger) or high winds (where any number of people might be in danger from falling trees)? I don't understand where these folk get off thinking WE are in the wrong. It's as if they want to have the right to get their seats early so they can pick the best seats, but if the weather is not suitable for them, they should have the right to change their seats to a night that is more suitable for them... and who cares about the company that is putting on the show and trying to survive so that we can put on two shows again next year.

Fortunately, there are more people who are good natured and they make it all worth while! They will call up to see if the show is still going on and when we say yes, they are grateful! "Thank you!! We were hoping a little rain wasn't going to cancel the show!" Last night close to 500 people came to see the show on a night where it looked like we weren't going to get away with no rain... 500 people who were willing to chance it. So why would we cancel a show for the handful that are nasty about our decision and ruin the evening of 500 who planned to come and enjoyed themselves (by the way... the audience last night gave the cast a standing ovation and you know, besides the fact it was a good show, they were appreciating the fact the cast would go ahead, rain or shine!).

Hehehe... here we were last night... Jo and I in the box office, and Naveen who was out greeting the public and answering any questions they might have. Don't we look trendy in our rain gear??

LOL! This is Erin Hall, our Venue Manager, getting ready with making sure we have enough rain ponchos to be handed out as the audience arrives :)

Here's the little Diva Bridget with one of the Park Rangers... who is not too hard on the eyes. I don't know how Bridget does it but she seems to win over everyone, and it's not as if she is smiling at any of them ;) The Park Ranger stops in to make sure all is ok, that we aren't having any problems and if there's anything he can do for us... very nice guy!

I rather like this picture and hope it's not too dark on some of your monitors. This was taken the other day at the theatre and it could almost look like it was taken in Hawaii. I have no idea where I got the tan from because I have not had time to sit in the sun! I have been down at the theatre pretty much every day and when I'm there, I'm behind the box office counter, selling tickets and answering general questions about the Park to the tourists. The only time I'm getting any sun will be on the 5 min. drive to the park when I have my sunroof open or if I take Bridget for a quick little walk to do her business, but usually, one of the volunteers always offers to take her for a walk, so I don't even do that that often. But ever since I've had problems with the adrenal gland (and now it's been removed), it seems my skin tans way quicker than it used to and it doesn't burn. Go figure?

Ok... I don't think I managed to mention that last weekend was so busy because not only did we have the shows every night, last weekend was a long weekend (BC Day) and it was also Pride weekend. The Saturday night was the last night of the fireworks, so here are a couple of fireworks pictures that I took while we were up on the roof deck of our building ...









Fireworks are always fun... but alas, the one drawback is that if you live across the street from where they are happening, you really do have to have your car home early and parked. Otherwise, you'll never get it home until well after 11pm those nights!!

Being that it was also Pride weekend, it is one of the most festive weekends of the year in my neighbourhood! Everyone is into Pride weekend and just out to have fun! It's so neat to see everyone laughing and having a good time and everyone is friendly to everyone else! It's too bad this can't happen year round... maybe one day we will get there!

Here are a couple of pictures of the fun... TUTS had an entry in the Pride Parade and the kids from both shows had soooo much fun!! Hopefully NEXT year my feet and legs will be better so I can go in it with them... hahaha, not to dance and sing, but to dress up and hand out 1/2 price coupons to both shows and just be with the gang :)

Hahaha... this was so much fun!! Talk about good timing! They weren't even part of the parade, this was just a promotion for women's razors , but they happened to be doing their thing passing them out during Pride weekend ;)

Awwww... here's our TUTS parade entry!! Aren't the horses so darn cute! Those big old Clydesdales!! This was great fun because both casts were involved... and they sang and danced along the whole parade route :)

Here's some of the Annie Get Your Gun cast dancing/singing behind the horse drawn carriage :)

This is some of the Jesus Christ Superstar cast riding on the carriage while the Annie cast were doing their number :)

Sooooo that's pretty much it for this week's report. I'm feeling great although am still having complaints about my legs and feet. The pain is really annoying because it means I can't walk far and some days, just walking is so uncomfortable. Dr. Fay (GP) has taken me off the narcotic meds (oxycodone) because they just weren't doing anything for the pain and there's no point being on them if they aren't working because they are/can be highly addictive. He has put me on a new non-narcotic prescription (tridurnal) which sort of works. It worked to the point where I don't have to rely on my cane to walk... but it hasn't gotten rid of the pain. Mornings are the absolute worse... and the nerve damage in my feet from the chemo seems to have gotten WORSE not better, which is really strange. So, I guess we will continue to work on that and see if there is some combination of meds we can use to help.

Now, I'm not sure if in the last blog entry I mentioned that I do have a chest CAT scan appt. for Aug 21st and then a consultation appointment with the lung surgeon, Dr. Yee, on Aug 28th. I don't have a date for the surgery yet, but I guess we will find out around Aug 28th when that will happen.

Sooooo... don't be surprised if I don't get another entry done before sometime after the weekend. The shows close this coming weekend so I'll be down at the park every day this week. Then, two friends, Janet and Tracy are doing a one night show a week tomorrow, and I said I'd help them with it.... so after Aug 19th, I will be taking a couple of days off to do absolutely nothing before getting involved in another show :) :) Besides, I have a lot of dinners and lunches to catch up with friends who I said I would get together with after TUTS was finished :)

Ta ta for now!

Cheryl

Friday, August 1st - General Catch up and Miscellaneous

Hiya rain-soaked Bloggy!

Ok... once again, I'm trying to do up a blog entry and once again, I'm fighting against the clock... with yet another busy weekend ahead. Hahaha... as you can see, I just don't have time to be sick or feel sorry for myself because I don't have the time to fit that into my schedule ;)

Now, I KNOW I haven't done a blog entry in forever... not one with a lot of information so I'm not really sure where I left off and I forgot to skim over the last couple of entries before I started this one. So, I guess we'll just have to do a little summary.

- June 30th was the date of the surgery to remove the adrenal gland that had the malignant tumour. At that time, we knew the tumour was malignant because it lit up big time on the PET scan, but it was an enigma because they couldn't figure out WHY why it was malignant. If colon cancer is going to spread, the two common areas for it to spread to are the liver and the lung. It would be considered very rare for it to spread to the adrenal gland. On the other hand, I have had this growth/tumour on the gland for at least 7 years that we are aware of, probably longer. So if it was adrenal cancer, which is a very rare but very aggressive cancer, then I probably wouldn't be around now and it would have got me some years ago. So what the heck was going on?

Well, the pathology report came back and sure enough, the cancer was a "colon cancer metastic deposit". In other words, the colon cancer had actually somehow spread to the adrenal gland. I don't think they will know "when" it happened... had it been there all along and the colon cancer actually started spreading some years ago, or was this a recent spread, that happened before or after the chemo? The good news, Dr. Meneghetti successfully excised the tumour and right adrenal gland, so I think the above becomes a moot point.

- Next on the agenda is the lung surgery. They are giving me some time to regain my strength and recover from the June 30 surgery before we do the lung surgery. I have an Aug 21st appt. for a chest CAT scan. Then I will be meeting with Dr. Yee and he will go over the scan with me. We will know if the 1/2" lesion/tumour has grown or not and he will also explain the surgery. You can be rest assured I will be telling him about the bad experience I had during this last surgery where no one believed me when I said how intense the pain was and I want him to be aware that I normally can take a lot of pain before he would ever hear from me... but if I say I'm in pain, to realize that if I feel it I am in intense pain. I expect this second surgery to go much better because I now know what I need to communicate BEFORE the surgery.

I don't have a date for this surgery and won't have until after I see Dr. Yee. But from what I gather, they will probably schedule me for sometime at the end of Sept/beginning of Oct... after he thinks I've regained the necessary strength back.

- Arthritis/nerve damage. Yes, these two things are acting up big time! Arthritis can be a nasty thing at the best of times but I'm thinking that after all I've been through what with the chemo, radiation, and surgery... it's all aggravated it. The nerve damage is the damage that was done by the chemo to the nerves in my feet and shins. So this has been a real hindrance to walking from Point A to Point B.

- Pain Management. Ahhh... well, this is an interesting thing. I have been on numerous pain meds and as time has gone on, they just don't seem to be working all that well. So this week, my doctor has taken me off the narcotic pain meds (Oxycodone and Hydromorphine). Since they are not working, he's suspicious that they are causing "reflective pain", something that narcotic pain meds are known to do if you are on them for too long. The pain they are suppose to be controlling ends up being more intense. Instead of taking these narcotic meds, he has put me on "Tridural" (sp?) which is a new med that is not a narcotic and I'm only to take it once/day in the morning. I've only been on it for 3 days and so far, I think it might have promise. Yesterday, when I was at the theatre, I could actually walk around WITHOUT my cane... and when I was standing up selling tickets for the two hours before show time, I could do it without being in agony. I was tired by the end, and cold (it was freezing out yesterday), but I was pleased with the pain level for the day.

Ok, blah, blah, blah.... the above long saga is a catch up with the medical stuff. From now until the next surgery, I want to try and live my life as normal as possible. When we get into "medical mode", it can get downright scary when the reality hits as to why I'm surrounded by so many doctors and specialists. We are still fighting the battle for my life because this is a particularly nasty kind of cancer and the fact that we now know that it DID spread to the adrenal gland and we are 80% sure that we'll find the lung tumour is also a colon cancer deposit, then it is not a good thing that the cancer has spread. But damn it, this is ME we are talking about... and I have way too many things I still want to be involved with and way too many people I still want to play with... so the battle continues and I will beat it! I KNOW it is serious, but I also know that one hast to live their life and not have the monster control me and what I do.

Sooooo... somewhere around here I have some pictures that have been taken over the last couple of weeks and they will just give you an idea of what I've been up to (in no particular order)...

My pseudo-nephew and his gal, Helen, got married last weekend! So this is a picture of the wedding party, including Pat and Jerry, Jeff's mom and dad. Pat, Jerry and Dad all live together. Now isn't this a lovely picture of a lovely wedding party?

Awwww... here is Lady Bridget and Roger!! Roger is a long-term member of TUTS and has been around ever since I started in theatre. Bridget, of course, is the star Box Office dog :)

Now this is hilarious!! This is Ron, my landlord. I needed a new toilet seat so he was putting it on. Meanwhile, two neighbour pals (Mimi, Toby) and I were talking and we had the apartment door open... so Paloma, Toby's bird, opened her door and came over to see what was going on. She was particularly interested in Ron and what he was doing :)

Ok you have all seen some of my pictures of where I spend time in the park with the theatre. I have probably got a few pictures taken from this very same spot, during the year, but this was taken the other day and I think is a good example of showing why I love putting time in here at the TUTS office and this outdoor theatre. It is just so darn peaceful, beautiful and well-maintained. In other pictures, there have been bare trees, etc... but this is it in the height of summer.

Now, it's kind of hard to see since the trees are full, but if you look through the trees, this is the box office for TUTS... and you can barely see the green front of the theatre.

Ok, I just know there must be more pictures around here on my computer, but I'm afraid this entry is plenty long enough for now. This weekend we have the last night of Fireworks on Saturday. This year, the three countries competing in the HSBC Celebration of Light competition were Canada, USA, and China. My personal opinion is that China will win hands down, but we will find out tomorrow night. The neighbourhood will be shut down again to traffic, so I will be staying home and not going to the theatre... which is probably a good thing because it does give me a rest day. Sunday is Gay Pride here in the 'hood, so once again the neighbourhood will be shut down to traffic for the big parade.

Then it will be back to the theatre for the final two weeks. Hahaha... I know I owe practically everyone email!! Trust me, I have read all incoming emails. I have deleted those that don't need answering and have kept those that I really do want to answer in my inbox. But alas... I was just in there and realize I have 650 emails that I would LIKE to respond to now... and let's face it, that's just not going to happen! Soooo... for those who may be reading the blog and wondering why you haven't heard from me.. don't give up. I may not be able to respond to a previous email, but I will be in touch. According to the weather peeps, it looks like we are going to be in for another stretch of good weather, which will be fabulous for both TUTS shows. We still have 2 weeks left of both runs. Once the TUTS is over and then I have two weeks to create the Sept 1 Metro Theatre Community Theatre newsletter.. well, then I'll have some down time to hang around, catch up on email and home stuff and relax before the next surgery.

Soooooo... I will be in touch with everyone soon!! I just can't say when yet :)

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

Thurs, July 24, 2009 - Will add a real entry soon!

Hiya Bloggy,

And a big hi to everyone out there in cyberland!! I know, I know... I'm long overdue for a blog entry... and more than a couple of you have been sending emails wondering WHEN am I going to update the blog??? My bad!! Do you have any idea how often I've been meaning to come here and put in an entry to let you all know how I'm doing?? But for whatever reason, I haven't been at home, or I have and have been so exhausted that I've ended up sleeping almost around the clock... then next thing I figure I have days and days worth of entries to catch up on... and voila, here we are with still not an entry and people wondering what's happened to me.

Well, I can honestly report, I'm still here in the land of the living. Yes, I'm still recovering from the surgery, but for the most part, that is coming along nicely... just taking a lot longer than I thought... but then, duh!, I just found out this week that the surgery was considered a "major operation" and here I thought it was just a little old snip and tuck kind of surgery. So it's no wonder that it's taking longer for a complete recovery than I had planned on.

Anywho... I promise that in the next couple of days I will do a proper blog update, complete with some pictures. The next couple of days are going to be insane... what with the TUTS shows, a wedding on Saturday, not being able to come home Saturday night because of the Fireworks competition (yes, for the first time in all these years, the USA will be competing this year and their night is Saturday), a baby shower on Sunday, and then back to the theatre on Monday. Somewhere in there, I'm also suppose to be resting. Ha!!

Sooooo, if I can't do up a blog entry tomorrow (Fri), then don't be too concerned if the next one isn't early next week after all this crazy weekend activity.

Likewise, for those of you who have sent email asking if I'm ok... if I haven't answered your email, please have patience with me... I WILL get to the mail and updating the blog soon :)

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Cheryl

Saturday, July 12th, 2008 - Quickie Update

Hiya Bloggy,

I beez bad! I realized (as well, it was brought to my attention) that I hadn't updated the blog for a few days... which is my bad since so many of you have said how you keep regular contact with the blog to see how I'm doing... and if I haven't updated it, then one doesn't know whether to worry or to assume that things are going great and I'm too busy to do any updates :)

Well, I'm happy to report that no one has to worry... I'm doing quite fine. I still have pain, but no where near what I was going through the first 10 days after the surgery. The pain I have now is pain that I had assumed I would have about 3-4 days after the surgery... not 12 days after the surgery!! But, as my friend Roger explained... when doing any surgical work around the kidney area, this is grounds for a lot of pain. So why didn't my surgeon explain this to me so that I could have been better prepared for what I went through??? And why the attitude that I shouldn't be in the kind of pain I was in, when it was obvious that this would not be unusual??

Anywho... on Friday night, I had my friend Greg pick me up and take me down to TUTS and I watched the show Jesus Christ Superstar. It was thoroughly enjoyable, even though it isn't one of my favourite shows, per se. On opening night, apparently they had quite a few technical difficulties, especially with the sound, but on Friday night, I didn't notice any of that so the show went very smoothly and was enjoyable to watch.

Hahahaha... there was a price to pay for me being out in the fresh air until so late Friday night. I pretty much slept ALL day today. I got up around 4pm... just in time to throw some clothes on and Greg was back to pick me up to go watch Annie Get Your Gun tonight.

I was really bummed out that I had to miss both Opening Nights since I just was in too much pain and not feeling up to being able to go. So it was a real treat for me to go Friday night to see JCS and tonight to see AGYG. Annie blew me away with just how pretty this show is... and obviously I am not the only one to agree... check out th review by copy and pasting this link into your browser:

http://snipr.com/2wx9w

If I wasn't so tired right now, I would code the above link so that all you have to do is click on it, but it is going on 2am and I really must go to bed. I already know I'm going to be paying for being out so late tonight, and being out in the fresh air all evening. Chances are I am going to have to sleep most of the day away tomorrow!

But being down at the Park with all my friends definitely has been the best dose of medicine since I've had the surgery done!! THIS is what my life is all about and being down with my friends actually helped me forget about the pain for awhile... well, if not able to forget about it, it was easier to cope with it. My dear friend Greg drove me to the Park both nights and my dear friend Shelley (who choreographed Annie Get Your Gun and who's husband, Stefan, is in Jesus Christ Superstar) drove me home both nights. I'm not quite up to driving anywhere yet ;)

Ok... a wonderful evening for sure!! And Toby, who had Bridget out this afternoon on their 2 hour hike, brought her down to the park. Bridget, of course, was right at home since being the Box Office dog mascot is her old stomping grounds... but when she saw me in the Garden Cafe outdoor concession area, she dragged Toby to me, whining and barking in excitement ... "That's my mom!!" It was sooo cute!! Of course, as soon as she got to me and smothered me in kisses, she insisted on my buying a cheeseburger so she could help share it with me :)

Toby and Bridget stayed for a short visit and rest stop, then they walked back home and Toby fed her her dinner which I had prepared for her and kept in the fridge. All is well and everyone is getting looked after :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 -- More Drama!

Hello Bloggy!

Yes, far be it from me to have a quiet week... any week! There's always some drama going on! Well, after the surgery, which should be enough drama in anyone's life, I come back home which has got to be better than suffering in agony at the hospital. I still can't get over the fact I couldn't get anyone to hear me, when I say I'm in pain... then listen people, I'm in pain!! I think the medical profession, no matter what position, has gotten so used to hearing people complain about pain that they no longer listen... and that is a sad state of affairs. Ok, granted, I realize that there are people who will complain over a hangnail or a paper cut... and they will whimper and complain as if this is a life-threatening situation... so I can understand where the doctors and nursing staff tend to turn a blind eye... but to the point that everyone who complains is obviously guilty of whining and sniveling over "nothing"??

Ok... so what was my next drama?? It happened yesterday, Tuesday afternoon. I had called my doctor on Monday to tell him that I had about 10 or more staples in my 4 small laproscopic incisions and they were suppose to come out a week after the surgery... which would have made them due to come out on Monday.. the day I was calling. The only catch, contrary to popular belief and the fact a whole week had passed, I was still in intense pain and there was no way I could get up to his office to see him and have him take out the staples. No problem... he will come over to my apartment on Tuesday, around noon. Problem solved.

So, sure enough, he came over but it was closer to 12:45pm... which now has put him behind schedule since he has an appt. at 1:00pm back in the office. Anywho... he did take the staples out and I was trying to explain to him my trials and tribulations of the last week... meanwhile, each staple he plucked out really hurt! Especially from the larger of the four incisions. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!! And I don't think he was really listening to my complaints of the past week because he was in a hurry to get back to the office.

So, he left and I ended up falling asleep because I do get tired pretty easily. I woke up about 2 hours later, and with a little difficulty (because of the pain factor), I got out of bed and went over to the mirror. I thought I should check the incisions to see if I should put on a light dressing or if they were all looking fairly dry and having them uncovered would be best. Well, I'm not sure if any of you can imagine this... imagine as you touch the area, before your very eyes the longest incision just up and opens up... so now you are looking at a gaping hole. HELLO??? 8 days of staples and it's as if not a bit of healing had happened!

Well, you will be proud to know I did not panic :) It was more like, "Well, sheeeeeit! What more can happen???" I figured that this isn't something I should now just slap a dressing on... I better go to Emergency and have them deal with it. So, I called Mimi upstairs and asked her if Nathan took their vehicle to work or not... turns out he hadn't. So I asked her if she would take me to St. Paul's Emergency just up the street? Of course she would! I told her to give me a few minutes... that I wanted to change into more suitable PJs for going to the hospital. Also, Toby and Bridget were out for their afternoon hiking adventure so I had to make Bridget's dinner and leave a note for Toby to explain where I was and for her to feed Bridget when she got home :)

Of course, now it meant having to go down the 9 stairs and then into Mimi's vehicle. It is a small van, so we took a Rubbermaid step stool that I have. Considering the pain I was in (nothing to do with the incision), I was very pleased with how I managed to get down the flight of stairs... and then into the van. Once in the van, I changed our plans... let's go to Emergency at VGH rather than St. Paul's since VGH is obviously going to have the latest medical reports on moi since I was there last week for the surgery that caused this incision.

Well, as is known in Emergency units across the continent... the US and Canada, there is nothing "emergency" about them. You KNOW you are going to have to sit and wait! So, I am glad I brought my book (still reading Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett). There was a LOT of waiting around before I was actually seen by anyone.

4 hours later, the end result was they agreed that the incision was now open and that there was nothing that could be done about it. Apparently, once an incision is open after having been stapled or stitched... they can't re-do the staples or stitches. The doctor had a nurse put teri-tape strips across the wound/incision and apply a light dressing. I can change the dressing as needed (IE: after a shower should it get wet). Obviously, I won't be allowing the shower water to hit directly on the area, but should it get damp, then I would change it to keep the area dry.

So, I then called Mimi and told her I was ready to be picked up... and she hopped in her van and came back to pick me up. By the time I got home, I was tired... but more so, I think I was tired from the pain, not anything else!

This morning, I woke up and felt a lot better. We shall see if this lasts through the day. But the pain this morning appears to be in just one area. Does this mean the worst is over??? Keep your fingers crossed and those positive thoughts coming in that we are seeing the end of the pain!!

Dad is coming over this morning to check up on me. I'm not sure if I have time to have a nap before he gets here or not ... we'll see :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

Monday, July 7th, 2008 -- I'm HOOOOOOME!

Bloggy, I'm hooooome!!

Yes, I'm home and what an experience this has been. Since I can only sit for very short periods of time, I'm not going to be able to go into any big detail of this past week for awhile, but I did want to check in to let you all know that I am home now.

Pat and Dad picked me up on Saturday. I'm not sure if my favourite Ikea commercial is aired down in the States but for those of you up here in the Vancouver lower mainland area, you'll know which one I'm talking about. It's where the lady who dresses sort of out of the 50's, has those retro 50's glasses and she looks at her bill and thinks that the cashier has made a big mistake since she paid so little... so next thing you see her... running out of the store in a mincing kind of run because she's wearing high heels, shouting, "Start the car!! Start the car!!!" Her husband is in the car in the parking lot, reading the paper when he hears his wife shouting this, so revs up the engine picks her up and they speed off, with her shouting "Whoooooo! Whooooo!" It is such a stupid commercial but it makes me laugh every time. Sooooo, as Pat is pushing my wheelchair down the hallway, she starts running with it to get me out of the hospital (I had such a horrible time at this particular University hospital) and I'm shouting... "Start the car!! Start the car!!" :D Ok, I guess you had to be there .

Anywho, as Dad said, I came back on Saturday late afternoon. Was I ready to be discharged? I don't think so, but by then I was soooo fed up with the staff and their lack of common sense, not to mention the intense pain I was in that I kept trying to explain to them and not one of them seemed to take me seriously. They all pretty much figured that I had had this laproscopic surgery so the pain I had should have been gone in 2-3 days. The problem was, it HADN'T left and although the surgeon put me on two very powerful narcotic painkillers, they didn't appear to be working, yet no one would believe me.

I don't know what they thought... but I do believe some prejudice came into play here. I think the staff in this second hospital were thinking that I was this "fat" girl who obviously was lazy and didn't want to do stairs and preferred to stay in the hospital... because their textbooks said that after surgery it would take X amount of days to get the pain under control and since I didn't fall into a classic textbook case, then I wasn't to be believed. Oh, the stories I could tell you about my 2 1/2 day stay at UBC Hospital, the hospital out at the University of BC... and once I have a bit more stamina and can sit at the computer longer, I'm sure you will be hearing about it. Meanwhile, the staff and Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), well, I have nothing but wonderful things to say about them!!

As for my surgeon, Dr. Meneghetti... I'm torn here. On the one hand, he did a FABULOUS job of the surgery. The adrenal gland is a gland that is very difficult to get at. There is an adrenal gland attached to each kidney, but in an awkward position. There are a lot of blood vessels and arteries in the area, plus other organs. To get at it, they have to blow the area up with air, so they can push organs around and out of the way... and then they have to get through the multiple blood vessels and veins, to detach the gland (when they do get at it) from the kidney, then sew up the kidney. This is all done laproscopically with a camera and tools. He told me that they had to dig deeper and move things around more, BUT he managed to get the gland and tumour out in one piece. Later, a resident who was in the OR during the surgery came into my room to talk to me and he seemed really excited about how the surgery went. Obviously, this is not a surgery that a lot of residents or surgeons get to see/do since taking out an adrenal gland is not a common surgery. So he told me how exciting it was to see Dr. Meneghetti get at the adrenal gland that was very difficult to get at and managed to extract it with the tumour intact... as well, they cut a large section around the tumour of tissue from the kidney as well as the tissue surrounding the gland. The tumour appeared to be very hard and the margins very clean which is a good sign the tumour is intact and has not spread anywhere. We won't know for sure until the report comes back from pathology, but the resident was very hopeful that all was clean. It had never entered my mind that it wouldn't have come out all intact... wow ... I never thought of the possibility that it might have already started to spread! Anywho, I seemed to get more information from the resident than I did Dr. M. Apparently Dr. M. is a man of few words... so I know I shouldn't take any of this personally.

But, the pain went on and they did try me on different pain meds to try and get it under control. Now, for those who know me, I have always had a high tolerance to pain, which means the pain has got to be pretty strong for me to notice it as pain. For me to be in intense pain, well, this is just something I have never experienced before in my life... and I have to wonder how someone who doesn't have a high tolerance to pain would do?? Because of this high tolerance to pain, it means I also have a high tolerance to drugs.. it takes a lot more for them to work on me when I need them... so I know Dr. M and the hospital staff were having a hell of a time trying to get some and at a dosage that would work on me. We never did really find it. While I was on the pain pump at VGH and they were giving me Hydromorphone (the next level up from Morphine) and Oxycodone, I was doing somewhat ok, but only sporatically. They took me off the pain pump when I was being transferred to UBC and put me on two kinds of Oxycodone... a slow releasing oxycodone over 8 hours and then a break through oxycodone (15mg every 4 hours). So oxycodone was in my system 24/7! But this just wasn't working... and that's when I ran into trouble. By now I was at UBC and they thought this amount of narcotic should be working, so they never did try anything else or go back to the pain pump with the hydromorphone. So I really had intense pain... and I never did see my surgeon again because he was in surgery at VGH Thur and Fri.

Anywho... I could go on and on... and I am journaling this experience, so once I have finished writing it all out, I will more than likely bore you all with the journal so that I have it documented online.

BUT, the good news... today when I woke up from my afternoon nap, I actually noticed a huge difference! Oh sure, I've still got pain, but this was the kind of pain I was expecting on Day 2 or 3... not on Day 8. There's a definitely huge improvement!! So, the way I see it, it is finally starting to heal and that I bet I see a huge difference in the next couple of days. I think it's going to be one of those things where it doesn't slowly get better every day, but that it has been super intense and voila! almost overnight it will seem like it got better :)

But, for now... I have been up for the past 4 hours. I am about to have some dinner (I heated up some pre-made canneloni and Rose sauce) and then will go back to bed to read a bit. Hahaha.. I still have to write about how Bridget was soooo excited to come home, until she saw me. She ran over and put her front paws on my knees (I was sitting at the time) did a couple of excited whimpers, then looked at me as if to say, "I went for a walk with Auntie Joan and I never came home... and you didn't come to get me, so you abandoned me!!" She literally gave me the cold shoulder for the rest of the afternoon/evening. Hahaha... I went to bed and she stayed sleeping on the couch. So I went to bed. Sometime in the night, she came to bed... and I've been forgiven since :) Hahaha... I have lots of help with Bridget! Mimi takes her out for her morning walk to do her morning constitution and while they are out, I make Bridget's breakfast... then when they come home, Mimi puts her breakfast down for her. I can't bend to put the dish on the floor. In the afternoon, Toby comes and takes Bridget out for a 2 hour hike through the trails in Stanley Park... then same routine. I make her dinner and Toby puts it down for her. Then around 11pm, Jenn and her dog, Lexi, come downstairs and the three of them go out for the last walk of the evening. I'm usually in bed by then, but that's ok... Jenn takes the two dogs out and if I'm awake, comes by and sits on the bed for a visit. Bridget comes up on the bed and Lexi has a snooze on the bedroom floor :)

So there you have it... all is good! I can now tolerate the pain... and I have a goal. Not sure if I'm going to make it but it's something to work towards (being the lazy person I'm sure that UBC staff thought I was. Grrrrr!). I am hoping to be comfortable enough that I can go to the Opening Night of Annie Get Your Gun at the Park on Thursday night. I think the opening of Jesus Christ Superstar is pushing it a little since it is Wednesday night... but if I am really good and rest Tues, Wed and Thurs... I just might be able to pull it off. If not, I will still see it later. I am not going to work any of the performances until July 16th, so all is under control.

Ok... enough babbling... off I go to bed to watch a little tv and read a little (Pillars of Earth by Ken Follett... fabulous book!!!)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

PS: Addendum: So much for a short note because I'm not sitting at the computer that long of a stretch