As Ashley Says...G-Ma!

Grandma Hill went back to her oncologist to discuss all the test results and to set up a treatment plan on Wednesday and here is the run-down...the breast cancer is gone, YAY! They're going to treat this new secondary cancer by radiation only instead of surgery plus radiation, which is also good news. The doc wants to do a scope to make sure that this secondary cancer isn't involved with the linings of her stomach or intestines in any way, but other than that, we're very optomistic! Radiation will begin Monday and the scope should be next week, too. Please keep her, Grandpa, and all our family in your prayers!!

The Good News and The Bad News

Ok, good news first...I feel all better! I'm completely back to my "normal" self :) We're still going to recheck my thyroid and make sure it's not being a little troublemaker, but all else is well...with me.
The bad news...mom has a sinus infection yet again and the antibiotic makes her feel really goofy. The worst part is that this is about her billionth sinus infection and some of them are getting to the point of being resistant to some antibiotics, but she's really sensitive to meds like I am and doesn't have a whole ton of options with them.
And the really bad news...Grandma Hill's cancer is back. Here's the odd part, it's not the breast cancer she had last time, but some type of secondary cancer that has spread all down her side. She meets up with her oncologist again on July 29th to set up another plan of treatment and get some more details. I'm pushing her to get a second opinion just to make sure that an unbiased professional agrees with her diagnosis and plan of treatment. On the other hand, Grandma Baileys has developed a nasty habit of leaving her house on her own. She doesn't drive and has now twice wandered out of her house. The first time, she barely made it down her street. Now, she doesn't live in the best of neighborhoods so it's definitely dangerous, but thank goodness my aunt was coincidentally driving down the street to Grandma's and saw her. She picked her up and took her home. The second time she left (just a few days later that week), Grandma made it down a very busy street and to a shopping center. Now for the REALLY scary part, she got into a car with a stranger. Seriously, thank goodness that woman took her to the police station and they called my dad and aunt. My Grandma was actually really ticked and thought it was all their fault. We're trying to decide what to do because it's obviously dangerous for her to be home alone, but she doesn't want to live in any type of assisted living facility and can't live with any of her own children. What to do? Any suggestions are welcome...
Please keep us all in your prayers and have a great weekend!

And Back to the Doctor...

So yesterday was my appointment to follow-up with my family doctor after the fun ER visit. Tell me if this isn't a typical "Lauren" scenario...
The good news is that Ryan took me and we both really liked the doctor. She was really sharp and explained everything to us! I haven't had a primary care doctor since my pediatrician, so I was hesitant with the whole situation. Anyways, she asks for my story again of what happened with the ER. I tell her (I should have just printed the blog entry...) then hand her the reports from CareNow and from the ER. She looks at the reports with an odd expression...and tells me that I didn't have a high WBC count! Now, I had never looked at any of the reports-you don't really like to read small gibberish print when you have a migraine and I wasn't in the mood to double check the ER doctor's reasoning. My new doctor showed me on the report where my results were and where the normal range was and sure enough, my counts were totally normal. Stupid CareNow. Not a single thing on the CareNow report was out of the normal range. Even my "fever" was only 99.1. You know what that means? ALL I HAD WAS A STUPID MIGRAINE! And instead of giving me some imitrex or something, the CareNow doc gave me Norco which is a very strong pain reliever. It was also probably the cause of my fainting episode in McAlister's later that night.
So on to the ER reports...did you know that stress (such as passing out) can elevate your WBC counts? And that nearly everyone has traces of bacteria in their urine? So that means...NO INFECTION (bacterial or viral), NO UTI. And oh yeah, I was not dehydrated. The only possible reason for needing the IV fluids would have been to help flush the Norco out of my system, but that's not the reason they gave me for needing the fluids!
In short, I didn't need the Norco and it probably caused my passing out. I needed some Imitrex or something else for the MIGRAINE. The passing out most likely caused my lab results to be a little off in the ER, so I probably never had any virus or infection, so the week of antibiotics that made me feel like crap were probably completely unnecessary. :) Ain't life grand?
My new doc drew some more blood and is going to run some more thorough tests and recheck for the UTI, but said she doesn't really think anything is wrong anymore. There's a small possibility that my thyroid might be having some issues, but that isn't a very big concern. I'm relieved that it's nothing...but at the same time, I'm totally frustrated that I had to go through all that and take all the unnecessary meds! Arg.

Picture!

Here's a picture that Ryan took during my visit to the ER on Thursday...do ya like my new wires?? Those were for the EKG! What a mess...

A Little Blog-Happy and A Little More Crazy!

Some of you may be wondering "wow, what's gotten into her?" here lately because I've actually been updating the blog. The real deal is that this is basically all I'm allowed to do! Here's a little more crazy for you...this one is really long, sorry!
This past Wednesday while at work, I started to get a headache. Nothing out of the normal, right? I put on my glasses and take 2 Tylenol, that should take care of it. Well 2 hours later, the pain has intensified and it's developing into a migraine...sensitivity to light and sound included. So I take 2 Excedrin migraine, head to lunch, and take a 3o minute nap. In the past, that procedure would have easily taken care of it all. Well I wake up from the nap, and still have all of my previous symptoms alongside a new one-some severe nausea. I head back to work and inform my supervisor that I don't really want to vomit all over my patients and co-workers, so I'm going to head home for the day. After all, it's already after 3 pm, so we're pretty much done for the day anyways. I get home (somehow...) and head straight to bed. I got in a 2 1/2 hour nap, wake up, and still have all of my symptoms. Now this is abnormal...I've never had a migraine this bad and have no idea what brought it on. So I call the nurse hot-line through our insurance company...they instruct me to try a few new things and if that doesn't work, to get to a doctor. So we try alternating hot and cold compresses on my forehead and the back of my neck and Ryan massaged the back of my neck and shoulders to make sure that muscle strain wasn't causing the pain. I couldn't take any more medicine because you're only supposed to take 2 Excedrin migraine in 24 hours, and I did that at 1:30 PM, but the alternative treatments did help somewhat. It all helped enough to get me to sleep for the night.
I wake up the next morning at 6 to get ready for work...but I still have this stupid migraine! I call in to work and head to an urgent care facility because now, we are totally out of the realm of normal. Doc starts asking me all of these questions...then tells me that I'm running a fever. What? Then says he wants to run some blood work to check for an infection along with some other things. Everyone knows my LOVE of needles (sarcasm)! So I desperately tried to put this off and got the doctor truly annoyed with me. They stuck me despite my best efforts. Doc comes back a while later and says my white-blood-cell counts are really high, so I must be fighting a virus or infection of some sort. Since I don't have any signs of an infection, he suspects it is just a virus and that the virus is causing some inflammation and therefore my bad headache. He also tells me that the counts were so high, that he was concerned about mono. Now...I've had mono before and once you have the mono virus, you ALWAYS have the mono virus and it can flair up at basically any time. CRAP. I don't want mono again! Turns out the test was negative, but the elevated counts are still concerning. Doc sends me home with explicit instructions-fluids and rest. And he gives me some pain meds for the severe headache so I can get some good rest.
Wow, did those pain meds work. I was OUT. I took one nap from like 11-1, and woke up with the same stupid headache. So...as instructed...I take another pain pill and nap from about 3-7 pm. When I woke up this time, no headache! OMG, I'm ecstatic! I really figured that the rest and 2 liters of fluids had made a huge impact. I was finally not nauseated and wanted something decent for dinner. Seeing that I was feeling better, Ryan agrees to go to McAlister's for dinner so I can get some soup and a simple sandwich. We get there...all is well. I obviously can't drive (being on the pain meds), but did fine on the drive. I ate my cup of soup and kept that down, but I was full, so I didn't eat the sandwich. We're just sitting there talking...enjoying being out of the house! I started to get a little light-headed and was having some trouble focusing, so I pulled my legs up in the booth and leaned back against the wall...I told Ryan what was going on and neither of us seemed too concerned at the moment...just rest a minute and I'll be fine. That's all I remember. Apparently after that, I completely lost consciousness and went limp...then my entire body started shaking. The shaking was hard enough to kick my sandals completely off and Ryan had to hold my head so that I wouldn't hit the wall or the table. Neither of us know how long this went on, but when I came back to, I could still feel myself shaking uncontrollably (kind-of like have the chills really really bad) and didn't really know where I was or what happened right away. I felt like I'd had a nightmare and Ryan was trying to wake me from it or something. When I realize that I was still in McAlister's, I knew something bad had happened. Ryan pretty much carries me out to the car and we head back to the urgent care facility...but they wouldn't take me because of the convulsions and instruct us to head straight to the closest emergency room. So we do and they take me back right away ( I tell ya, I get the treatment at the ER! Between this and the steak-knife inicident...they always get me in right away and Doc is usually right there waiting on me!). They actually put me on a bed in the hallway because there weren't any open rooms, but needed to start the work-up immediately. We still had the test results from that morning, so we show them to the ER doc and he orders more tests...EKG, lab work, urinalysis, CT scan, etc. Everything appears normal except the lab work-still have that high WBC count. We were in the ER until after midnight...come to find out, I was allergic to the codeine in the pain meds that the urgent-care doc gave me and this was basically an allergic reaction and I was very dehydrated-very odd since I'd had 2 liters of fluids that day. They hooked me up to an IV and gave me even more fluids to help get the codeine out of my system as quickly as possible since it had been 9 hours since my last pill. New instructions-still all the fluids and rest I can handle, but no more pain meds and a new prescription for an antibiotic instead. And oh ya...I'm not supposed to do anything since I'm at risk for losing consciousness again. So Ryan has had the joy of babysitting me since then...if you can't tell, I like to keep him on his toes! I'm supposed to go to my primary care doc in about 10 days and let them do another work-up to make sure everything is still ok. So that's my latest crazy...I'll keep you updated!

The Crazy Things That Happen Around Here...the FINALE!

Ok, so Wednesday, I almost got picked up by the tornado. Thursday, I got to swim out to my car in the parking garage, then evacuate the entire clinic due to gasoline fumes...along with a fantastic asthma attack. Friday, the finale, I broke my stapler, my scissors (while attempting to fix the stapler), and my computer/scanner...all before 9 am. I was already so done with this day! Thank goodness it was already Friday!

The Crazy Things That Happen Around Here...Part 3

As if my run in with the tornado and having to swim to my car weren't quite enough...my afternoon got even more interesting. After my eventful morning at work, I took lunch as usual and was going to try to get a quick nap in or something to calm myself down. I went into the break room and started eating on my lunch and talking with some of the nurses when one of them goes "Hey, do you smell that?", and not meaning what you think! I was like ya...that kinda smells like gasoline! We discussed it for just a little while and decided that maybe some oil or something got stirred up in the parking garage as it was flooding and maybe the smell was just stronger than we were used to, but nothing to really worry about. We keep eating and chit-chatting when I hear an abnormal amount of noise in the hallway. I poke my head out the door to see what is going on and see ALL of our patients in the lobby! I mean, they have on their gowns and still have IV's in! The nurses have on gloves and are still attempting to administer the chemotherapy treatments...in the lobby! Then I smell it...the ridiculously strong smell of gasoline. We all drop everything and bolt out of the break room because this is obviously a situation we have on our hands. Everyone is grabbing masks (for the patients and employees) as we evacuate the entire clinic. Valet is pulling around cars as fast as they can, the nurses are trying to keep the patients safe and stable, and everyone else is grabbing chairs, pillows, masks, and juice and crackers for the patients because it's starting to get to some of them. One of the doctors even had to be carried out because she was so light-headed. The medical assistants (in masks and all...) are calling patients to cancel their appointments for the day and let them know what's going on. In the midst of this, I quickly realized that I did not get a mask on quickly enough and the fumes have definitely done a number on my asthma...yup, here comes the attack! I drop what I'm doing and head straigh for my desk-that's where my purse would be with my emergency inhaler in it. NOPE. Remember...I was at lunch. That means I have to run the gauntlet of patients, care-givers, and maintenace crew to the break room as I'm wheezing and crying and probably turning fun colors by now...attempting not to cause any concern to anyone who might see me. Of course, that doesn't happen and now I have a nurse following me asking questions...it's kinda like when the dentist asks questions while his hands are in your mouth...I really wanted to say "I CAN'T BREATHE=I CAN'T SPEAK!". It seemed like forever long, but I finally made it to my inhaler, rip my mask off my face (which got caught in my ear-rings, so I ripped those out of my ears along the way), and finally get some sweet relief. Once I could finally speak, I looked at the nurse and said "No, I'm not okay, I can't breathe, and yes, I have asthma." At that point, I was escorted out of the building to get some fresh air. All of the patients were cancelled for the day, sent home, then the workers were asked to leave so that maintenance could get the situation under control without the risk to the clinic staff or patients.
On my drive (swim) home, I quickly realized that our garage was not the only place that was flooded...wow, those must have been some serious storms that passed through! Dang you joint-safety-commission-regulations for taking away my windows... Anyways, the road I usually use to get to the highway was closed due to extreme flooding, so I head north to the next street which appears useful at first...then, when it's too late to turn around, I see the lake ahead of me. At least I wasn't the only one! We were all literally going to sink or swim! The water got increasingly deep as I edged toward the highway...couldn't see the painted lane dividers anymore, then couldn't see the curb. The water was over the running boards on my SUV and it got to the point that I didn't want to stop because I was afraid my car would flood and stall. I did eventually make it home and my car never stalled...so that's good. I headed straight for my nebulizer when I got home, then took a nap! Everyone I knew instructed me to just stay home because bad things seem to happen when I leave. Ah, finally the end of that day!

The Crazy Things That Happen Around Here...Part 2

So the morning after our little tornado incident, I'm getting ready for work and the news keeps saying something about it raining...whatever, there's not a cloud in the sky! I'm a little shaken from the previous night, but nonetheless, ready for work. I can't really see out any windows at work, but I could certainly hear when the storms did indeed start to pass through, and they must have been torrential! Our patients kept telling us about them, too. When I finally got to peek outside, it really was as bad as they were saying! I start to notice employees running through our clinic, which is quite abnormal. Then...I hear something about our parking garage flooding! What!? Seeing as my car is on the very bottom level of our under-ground parking garage, I understandably start to panic and join the masses running towards the garage staircase. As I'm on my way, I was informed by maintenance that the garage was indeed flooding and the elevators no longer worked because someone took them down the the garage and brought back up about 1 foot of water! Sure enough, there's about a foot of standing water all through the garage! I'm talking to maintenace and they thought at the time there might have been a drainage line clogged, so they didn't really expect it to get much worse-they thought it would be fixed soon and all would be fine. I go back to my desk and continue working with that thought. Well surprise...maintenance was WRONG. I get an email from our emergency notification about the flooding and keep hearing "it's now or never..." from the staff. When I go to check on my car again, I was informed to either get it out of the garage now or it would probably be lost due to damages. Lo and behold...the water is now above my knees! I roll up my pants, take off my shoes and socks, and proceed to swim out to my car...hoping it will start. DISGUSTING. The water was as dark and murky as hot chocolate. I get to my car, open the door, and the water is high enough to wake onto my floorboards! Again, ew, now my car has stinky water damage. Amazingly, my car starts and I drive my little boat out of the garage...almost running over some chick that was jacking around in the middle of the way taking pictures. I was like, look honey, my car isn't stopping because then it would probably flood and not start back up! So you're gonna either move or get knocked out the way! I seriously thought the waves were going to just take my car and me for a ride...but thank goodness we got out safely! I had to park outside my building and just run back in while it was raining...still in my lack-of-shoes and my pants rolled up above my knees. When I get back to the clinic, I head straight to the bathroom, hop up on the counter, and attempt to wash the ICK off my legs! It was quite a site...and I thought it was over...I was very sadly mistaken.

The Crazy Things That Happen Around Here...Part 1

Ok, this story is from like 3 weeks ago, so I'm sorry it took this long to get it posted!
It all started on a Wednesday night...I got off work as usual and headed home to let the pups out to potty. The skies were pretty clear and it was hot as normal for a June evening...that becomes important later! So I let them out and grab my stuff to head out to our church class where I was meeting Ryan since he played golf that afternoon. The drive is about 20 minutes, and as I drove, I noticed that it started to get cloudy. When I was about 1/2 way there, I noticed that it also started to get windy and cooler. When I was about 5 minutes away from church, Ryan calls me kinda flipping out going "where are you!?". I start telling him and he tells me to either get there quickly or turn around and go home because the tornado sirens are going off! I get there and can barely park my car because it's bouncing in the wind! We run inside and get into the stairwell with everyone else. It's crazy windy (estimated wind speeds were around 70 mph), raining, and of course...the sirens are still going. When they finally stop, we found that water is leaking up through the floor and floorboards in about 3 places in the halls of the church and school, so we're running around with the pastor, his wife, the kids from the camp that day, and the people from our class all trying to mop up the messes and keep them from spreading. Our class is supposed to start at 7 and by the time we got everything and everyone situated, it had almost stopped raining, and the storm had pretty much passed...it was 8:15, so needless to say class was cancelled for the evening. Once we got dinner and got home, there was no more storm to be seen and the weather was pretty much back to normal...crazy Texas weather. This incident in itself isn't what made these days crazy, but it certainly played a part! Keep reading!