About twenty years ago, our family found ourselves at Hershey Park. While the older kids went on the roller coasters, I went with Nick on all the rides more appropriate for the three year old he was then. One of which was a kiddie airplane ride where you could control the height of the little plane you sat in as it went round and round. Nick and I settled into our mini two seater and, with big smiles, waited for the ride to start. When it did, I realized that Nick, who didn’t like the motion, had slithered down by my feet. To anyone watching, it looked like I was the only adult on this embarrassingly small ride. There was nothing to do but practice my Queen Elizabeth wave and smile as we went round and round. Every time I tried to make the plane go higher, Nick would start screaming at me as he sat scrunched down by my toes and I had to lower it back to a mere hover. So there I sat, two inches above the ground, a grown woman sitting apparently alone in a vehicle meant for a child no higher than three feet tall and going nowhere really really slowly… waving. Rich, meanwhile was gleefully snapping photos. This was the Longest. Ride. Ever.
Right about now, Rich and I feel like we’re going round and round on the longest ride ever and sometimes feeling just as ridiculous with our precautions as I did that day on that little plane and getting nowhere reeeeeally slowly. We’ve been trying to make changes but it’s hard to think of yourself as a non-patient when every time you begin to increase your activity levels, you end up back in the ER. As we are finding, “Progress is not accomplished in one stage.” Victor Hugo was right when he wrote that.
And we always seem to have a crisis moment after those doctors give us a big thumbs up. After our round of stem-cell-birthday doctor appointments August 27th, we began to look ahead to our F*ck Cancer celebration scheduled for Labor Day weekend. The kids were all coming down from Rochester with lots of family and friends joining in. We were a week away! We finalized our menu and went over the details and started up the stairs to bed. Near the top of the stairs, in seemingly slow motion, Rich began to fall, collapsing in on himself. Shaking, he grabbed the railing and, with me close behind, made it into our room and onto our bed.
Out of nowhere, his temp was 102, his O2 levels 82. Body aches were starting up. Suddenly his breathing was the full symphonic again. The guidelines we have dictate if a temp of 101 or more is not resolved with Tylenol for more than 20 minutes at a time, then we need to go to the ER. All temps should be reported. The O2 levels were problematic. A cough is brewing. If we reported this to the on-call doctor, they would advise to go to the ER. Rich was refusing, putting me in the middle. So, instead of a phone call, it was time for some fast footwork.
First, ignore the phone. Then begin some regimens for these symptoms. Tylenol, Nebulizer, and luckily, a supply of the antibiotic Levaquin is on hand. Shortly, the O2 levels are back up, the temp is normal and we’re hoping the antibiotic is working its magic. We’ll see how the night goes. In the morning, Rich’s temp is still normal. Throughout the day, his O2 levels vary which doesn’t make me comfortable, but he pleads to stay home. And I don’t blame him. The lack of temp indicates Levaquin was the way to go… this is a bacterial something or other that was brewing. With luck, we’ve caught it in time. We spend Sunday resting from the long watchful night and monitoring those oxygen levels that can’t stay in line.
By Monday, there is significant improvement… O2 remains a steady near-normal. We call the pulmonary doctor who isn’t happy we didn’t phone over the weekend but is in accord with what we dispensed and understands our need to stay out of the ER. We agree to notify her with any negative changes.
Now’s the hard part… keeping Rich rested so he’s well for the party. And thankfully he is. “To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well,” said Issac Asimov, one of our favorite authors. So we improvise by bringing Rich’s Ikea chair (Poang!!!) and ottoman into the garden for him to relax in. Like a pasha, everyone will come to him for the bulk of the day…to greet his guests by getting up and down or standing for long periods couldn’t be an option… he’d be down for the count before the appetizers were done. And our plan works. Most of the day was spent in the chair but as the sun began to settle down, Rich then was able to get up and mingle, stopping at various tables to sit and chat. He only stepped away from the party for his timed nebulizer treatments. It was a triumph for him to be able to spend the entire day surrounded by so many friends and family, all of us celebrating that he’s in remission. Celebrating with gratitude for the support of everyone that helped us with love through the darkest of times and to find joy in the lightest. Those who were there in spirit followed us as well. It was magical.
On Monday, Labor Day, we rang the farewell bells as we watched our kids drive off to their homes in Rochester. The house now quiet, we relaxed and enjoyed the aftermath of a wonderful weekend; reliving all the special moments, unwilling to let it end.
As we had for the past week, we continued to sleep on the main floor, still hesitant to try the stairs too soon. We settled in for the evening. Rich’s cough, though, kept tickling his throat. His side mildly sore from a week of coughing, the muscle pulled from the exertions. Overall, not problematic but annoying. Yet in an instant his body is in conflict… a cough and a sneeze explode at the same time and it’s as if his rib is physically torn apart. He screams in agony, holding his side as he falls out of his chair from the force.
Immediately, Nick and I rush to get him to the ER, calling the doctors on our way. Once there, like that little plane so long ago, the ER moves slowly on holiday weekends. After what seems an interminable wait, Rich gets a CT scan… riding off on the gurney smiling and waving goodbye to me like Queen Elizabeth. Like me on that stupid plane. As night once more becomes a new day, we get the results: lungs clear…rib unbroken… muscle torn. Sent home with oxycodone for the pain and valium to relax the muscle and advised to see our doctor within 24 hours. Thankfully: discharged. We feel reprieved.
The following day we visit the pulmonary doctor. She confirms the finding on the radiologist’s report and sends us home with some cough medicine with codeine to use in a few days when the ER meds run out. Calm the muscle, let it heal. Happy the lungs are clear.
Two weeks later, there’s still some pain… gotta be careful not to use core muscles for now… but overall healing. Cough for the most part is gone. Creeps in when Rich gets tired, but mostly gone.
So we continue to make plans. This time we revisit one we had to bypass in the spring when Rich was not up to the event… seeing the new show “Something Rotten” on Broadway. What better time to go than Broadway week? We forgo dinner in the city… that would make the night too long right now. Rich instead decides we’ll walk to and from Penn Station… it’s a beautiful night, just right for a slow stroll.
And it works. Tons of laughs, lots of fun. Great night out.
And we pay for it the next day. Exhaustion, swollen legs, foot pain and that pesky rib acts up. This on top of the continuing prednisone withdrawal and all the baggage that it brings with it.
Which all begs the question, how do we get out of this patient mode? Part of it is physical. But as the saying goes, a body in motion stays in motion – A body at rest stays at rest. We come up with a plan to create a routine of small tasks that will make the house run smoother and get our non-patient out of patient mode… work the mind and body.
The harder part is the mental. How do you stop thinking of yourself as a patient when every time you try, albeit by going unintentionally overboard, it sets you back? The frustration is overwhelming. We feel lost.
Baby steps seems to be the key. And that’s a hard way to proceed when you really haven’t done baby steps in sixty years. It is dispiriting when so many attempts create such havoc, but we have to learn from each one that the amount of extra effort needs to be very carefully calculated. And that there will be setbacks, but we can’t let them stop us in our tracks. One of Rich’s favorite pastimes is cooking. With the restrictions he’s had and the exhaustion, both mental and physical that the medications bring, he’s not had many opportunities this past year. But with Mr. Asimov’s words in our head, we make a plan to find interesting simple new recipes and Rich will go grocery shopping each day for fresh foods to fill the ingredient requirements. His day will be filled with preparing dinner with rests in between so as not to overdo.
For two days, we have excellent results and delicious meals. And then a fever flares again. We sit and look at each other. What to do? It’s not a huge temp… it just hovers above the “call it in” level. We decide to ignore it. It responds to Tylenol… we wait til morning and discover then the fever is gone.
We discuss how, pre-cancer, this temp wouldn’t even be a blip on the screen. Rich probably wouldn’t have even taken his temp but brushed off the chills he felt as a result of a rather cold marketplace. We discuss how our need to respond has changed with each successive fever over the last nine months. This time, there is no change in breathing or oxygen levels. The only medication needed was a couple of Tylenol… no nebulizers, no ER visit. In the grand scheme of things, this is an indication of some very significant improvement! We begin to move mentally out of patient mode. We’ll need to keep aware of body changes that could be problematic but decide that with caution, we can analyze these changes and review them with a fresh perspective.
The theologian Martin Luther wrote a commentary on the New Testament’s Epistle to the Romans. This book in the bible is full of focus on spirit… grace, transformation and salvation… a fitting one for our current place on our journey. Luther’s commentary says “To progress is always to begin always to begin again.” And so, as always, we begin to begin again… towards grace, transformation and salvation.
Renewal.
Use What Exists 