No "Chemo" Sabe (Mar. 24, 2006)
Before Laurie began her chemo treatments, her sister, Michelle, gave her a cute little stuffed monkey (no, not Jim!) she had named Key-Mo-Sabbi. The little fella has sat on the kitchen counter reminding Laurie of Michelle's love and support.
With apologies to Tonto and the Loan Ranger, I thought of that monkey the other day when Laurie found out she couldn't have her regularly scheduled chemo treatment on Friday, March 24. "No chemo today," Dr. O'Shaughnessy said. "No chemo," I thought, and "sabe" just kind of popped out. That was the last thing we wanted to hear.
You may recall from the last post that Laurie took a short trip to the emergency room the previous Monday because of a fever. The doctor found nothing suspicious and Laurie dutifully took the prescribed antibiotics. As we sat in the exam room, Dr. O'Shaughnessy listened as we described the fever events on Monday. She looked concerned and after a brief exam, thought she noticed some slight swelling. Not wanting to risk the possibility of a worse infection, Dr. O. decided postponing chemo was in Laurie's best interest. She also wanted Laurie to have a sonogram to check the swelling.
So, while Jim rushed off to the airport to catch a flight to Tampa to teach a course for the Seminary, Laurie, two of her friends, and her parents headed down to the breast imaging center to get the swelling checked out. By the time Jim landed in Tampa, the imaging department had discovered and aspirated a seroma about the size of a golf ball. A seroma is clear-fluid build-up in the area of the lumpectomy. We would later find out that the seroma was the likely source of Laurie's fever on Monday, but the antibiotics had eliminated whatever infection had been involved. Dr. O'Shaugnessy's concerns turned out to be well-founded.
Laurie went home that evening, continued on a new antibiotic, and we began to wait for the next Friday to try the chemo again.
Things sometimes don't go as we plan we discovered, but thankfully we know God's plan for us never fails. We take great comfort in that truth everyday we go through this ordeal.
With apologies to Tonto and the Loan Ranger, I thought of that monkey the other day when Laurie found out she couldn't have her regularly scheduled chemo treatment on Friday, March 24. "No chemo today," Dr. O'Shaughnessy said. "No chemo," I thought, and "sabe" just kind of popped out. That was the last thing we wanted to hear.
You may recall from the last post that Laurie took a short trip to the emergency room the previous Monday because of a fever. The doctor found nothing suspicious and Laurie dutifully took the prescribed antibiotics. As we sat in the exam room, Dr. O'Shaughnessy listened as we described the fever events on Monday. She looked concerned and after a brief exam, thought she noticed some slight swelling. Not wanting to risk the possibility of a worse infection, Dr. O. decided postponing chemo was in Laurie's best interest. She also wanted Laurie to have a sonogram to check the swelling.
So, while Jim rushed off to the airport to catch a flight to Tampa to teach a course for the Seminary, Laurie, two of her friends, and her parents headed down to the breast imaging center to get the swelling checked out. By the time Jim landed in Tampa, the imaging department had discovered and aspirated a seroma about the size of a golf ball. A seroma is clear-fluid build-up in the area of the lumpectomy. We would later find out that the seroma was the likely source of Laurie's fever on Monday, but the antibiotics had eliminated whatever infection had been involved. Dr. O'Shaugnessy's concerns turned out to be well-founded.
Laurie went home that evening, continued on a new antibiotic, and we began to wait for the next Friday to try the chemo again.
Things sometimes don't go as we plan we discovered, but thankfully we know God's plan for us never fails. We take great comfort in that truth everyday we go through this ordeal.
posted by Laurie Thames | 12:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home