Ok, time to explain something here. Part of this whole chemo process is to take certain meds the night before each treatment. Come to find out, these meds help to loosen you up and relax you for what’s to come. Well I hadn’t learned that yet, so on the morning of my second treatment, my daughter mentioned that I was a little bit CHATTY KATHY.
Oh really, Inspector Obvious, that’s what steroids do. They loosen up EVERYTHING, including the tongue.
That morning the waiting room was busier than normal and for some reason, everything was backed up. I was talking so much to so many people, my daughter moved away from me. When I looked up and caught her eye, she just pursed her lips and ran her finger across them telling me to ZIP IT.
Based on my first treatment, evidently the staff had advised me to take half of the meds the night before my second treatment . But of course I wasn’t paying attention, so I took a full shot. What a joke, I was as loose as a goose. I knew I was a little off the rails, but I had no control. I couldn’t stop talking to “everyone” and making jokes. Denise wanted nothing to do with me. I’m silly by nature, but even in my altered state I knew I was scary, but I had no choice but to go with it.
I was so silly, everyone in the waiting room was laughing practically out loud, along with me, yes and even Denise.
Also based on the first treatment, Denise and I thought this visit was going to go quick and easy. Boy, were we wrong. As it turned out, everyone and everything got backed up, which meant by the time we got to the chemo side of the clinic, we were seriously late. Remember they don’t mix you’re cocktail until you show up on that side of the clinic. Well needless to say we closed the joint, which meant we got out of there almost nine o’clock that night. I was the LAST one.
However I have to say, the “care crew” was just as professional, efficient, and pleasant as always.
From there we headed to my daughter’s house some 2 hrs away and got there after 10 pm. My poor daughter was in bed by 10:30, totally exhausted. But the next morning she was up bright and early and off to work. I felt lousy, but I felt worse for her. What a trouper.
Before she left for work, in this new “reversal of roles”, she gave me all my orders for the day. Drink plenty of water, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, don’t try to do any house work, but try a few exercises, then rest when you get tired. She delivers all these instructions as though we’re both in the military. I want to laugh, but I’m afraid I might get “time out”. So I just salute and say have a good day.
Little did I know what was in store for me. There’s an up side to having a Great Advocate and there’s the down side. I was depending on her so much, I wasn’t paying as much attention to things the way I should have been. I was about to pay for that lack of attention.
Once my commander-in-chief had left for work, I realized that one of my anti nausea meds had a different name on the sheet than the name on the bottle I had. I called the Dr’s office and found out what had happened, however that story is way, way, way too long to cover in this chapter. I will say it took me the better part of the day to straighten it out. I thought it would be an easy fix, but to my surprise it was one of my lowest days on this journey.
It started with about at least 20 to 25 phone calls back and forth with doctors and pharmacies, and keep in mind, I’m now in another state. What a trick that turned out to be. When I finally got things resolved, I had to go pick up the RX myself, because if I told my daughter what had happened, I might have got detention for 6 months.
All this time, I’m in a little bit of pain, and I’m not operating with all cylinders.
Finally I had to go to a pharmacy near my daughter’s house, that my doctor’s office had called, again this Pharmacy was not in my stat. When I got there I was informed that they did not have the meds on the premises they had to get them from another location, and it would take about 24 hrs.
At that point, I wanted to sit in a chair and just cry out loud. I wanted to scream at everyone in the store and let them know I had cancer and was just out of a chemo treatment and I was in pain.
Wait a minute, didn’t EVERYONE know that? Didn’t the whole WORLD know that? I mean poor me, I’m dying here and no one knows it? What’s with that?
That was one of the few times I felt totally lost in what seemed like a foreign Country and I wanted a pity party. Poor me, I mean how come this was happening to me? I couldn’t figure out how I was going to get back into my car and drive back to my daughter’s without running off the road! I had a serious case of meltdown, I knew if I started to cry I would not be able to stop.
I thought about calling my daughter, but to be perfectly honest, that frightened me more than running off the road. She would have blasted me for leaving the house in the first place.
While I was sitting there trying to figure out what to do, the young pharmacist came over to me and said they had called a local competitor to see if they had this med on site. They did and there would be no problem if I brought my ID and doctor’s phone number so they could make verification.
In that moment, that Angel might just as well have floated down from heaven with wings on. This was my Maker sending me a small Miracle. Thank You Lord.
In all that maze of pain, self-pity, and confusion and fatique, I remember thinking how I was going to come back one day and give this young person a HUGH reward. Of course I never did, because I can’t even remember what they looked like. But again I want to say Thank you, whoever you are, because things could have gone in a completely different direction, except for the graciousness of this ANGEL.
Believe it or not, I never told my daughter this story, when she reads this it will be the first time she’s hearing about it. Oh boy, talk about taking a risk, when she sees it she’ll probably STILL read me the riot act. She’ll start giving me another lecture about living in Care Bear land.
~ TIP:ALERT ~
So the tip here is:
PAY ATTENTION, PAY ATTENTION, PAY ATTENTION!
For every slip of paper they give you, verify all meds big time!
And remember, ANGELS appear everywhere, and usually just when we need them the most.
