No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

I'm going to try and make Fridays my regular posting day. We'll see how long that lasts but it's nice to have goals.

It's 4 am and I haven't slept a wink. Actually, an hour ago I was in mid-wink (thanks to 25 mg of trazadone) when the admitting resident threw the lights on to admit my new roommate who arrived at midnight. Oh, did I mention I am in the hospital? AGAIN?!

Yes, if one could earn frequent visitor points at a hospital, I would be in a presidential suite right now. This is my fourth hospital stay since April. It's become my home away from home. So what is it this time? Last Friday around 7:30 am I started to feel extremely woozy. Not a spinning of the room woozy but a stumbling drunk woozy. I was alone with Sadie because Nathan had already left for work. It was significant enough that I called my neighbor/bestie/attorney, Amanda, to come over even though she has a two week old infant, Isaac, and Alice, her toddler.

I was petrified of having an other seizure. I was literally squatting on the kitchen floor praying not to pass out or worse. Thankfully, Sadie was still asleep and only woke up when Amanda and the kids came over.

Okay it's outline time. Writing this series of events in long hand sucks. It's like reading an instruction manual. I am going to go for the Cliff Notes version of the past week's events.

Friday, Sept 16th- extremely bad dizzy spell early in am. Alone with Sadie. Petrified. Call for back up (friends/cousin). Call my docs. Oncologist and neurologist. Onc calls me back in less than 15 minutes. Will consult w/neuro. More symptoms: slurring of speech, sensation of droopiness on left side of my face, left eyelid twitching. Onc prescribes Decadron (a steroid) at 4mg every 12hrs. Thinks it may have to do with brain mets or swelling around them in the cerebellum which is what controls balance. Talk to neuro. She wants to admit me to hospital for observation to make sure I am not having mini-seizures. I beg her not to. Sadie's birthday parties (yes, 2 parties) are sat and sun. Don't want to miss them. She let's me off the hook with the agreement that should I get worse, I will call her and come in.

Sat/Sun/Mon- I feel great. Steroids give me tons of energy and we all have a great Sadie celebratory weekend. Tuesday onc's nurse practitioner, Peggy, checks in on me. Since I am doing so well they are going to drop me to 4 mg once a day in the am.

Wed- I am scheduled for a PET scan to see if the cancer has spread anywhere else. I have to fast from 8 am until the test at 2 pm. I eat 2 hardboiled eggs at 8am. Feel sleepy. Take a nap from 10-11 am. Wake up and feel same kind of woozy as fri before. Try to shrug it off. Take a shower. Shaving my legs. Wooziness gets worse. Abort hair removal. Get out of shower immediately. Get dressed. Hop in car service to cancer center. Arrive at 34th street. Zig zag across the street trying not to vomit. Seek medical attn at cancer center. Onc wants to send me to emergency room via ambulance. I reluctantly agree to hospital but no ambulance and no ER! Nathan arrives. Onc says we can wait at cancer center until there's a bed open & then head straight to admitting.

Ok- I haven't finished this entry but it is now sat evening which makes it almost 48 hours since I started this post. I want to be more consistent about posting so I am doing it now. Yes, I am entering an unfinished post. Is one allowed to do that?  Does anyone do that?  Well, here goes.

This is no cliffhanger but I hope you will continue to check back to find how the hospital stay ends. If just want to skip the rest of details, they do release. I am free. For now.