DAY 12 - MORNING

Well we are still here and ploughing ahead.  Today was our original departure date.

We both woke up exhausted this morning - still not completely awake.

Valerie has eaten 3 pancakes with strawberries and taken her 7 morning white pills.  Ideally, when we go home, she'll be able to take all 14 morning pills.  But she is doing a hell of a lot right now and 7 is plenty.

The trick today is going to be working with the doctor to get the sedative that she's taking more balanced throughout the day.  Yesterday, every time they gave her one of her treatment IVs, they took out the IV with the sedative.  It's a very fast acting and fast wearing off drug.  So, within minutes, she would be anxious and nauseous again - but she powered through until they could hook the sedative IV back up again.  So yesterday was a roller coaster.  We are going to try and eliminate that today and ask for a longer lasting drug that will keep her calm all day without the ups and downs.

I should clarify - the sedative is helping her A LOT.  She isn't, however, sedated all day. It does enough that she feels calm and able to focus on other things - reading, tv, walking, etc.  Instead of just being constantly stressed out about everything that's going on.

The food here is worth mentioning again... they are happy for you to special order things and they'll make you whatever you ask for as long as they have it.  But don't expect them to walk over and pour something out of a can and microwave it for you. Valerie wanted beans one day for lunch and they promised they'd have them by dinner .... because they had to soak and cook for a looooong time.  The same with the spaghetti.  When I went to pick it up, they gave me a bowl of noodles and no sauce.  They didn't have time to make the sauce and there's no Ragu in the back.  Everything is SO fresh.

** Valerie reading - after eating her pancakes and taking her pills.  The last 2 mornings, she's been getting up and moving over to my bed to camp out in for the day. She said "it gives me a new perspective."










** This is another one of our favorite nurses: Luis.  He's very sweet.  He comes in twice a day to check Valerie's vitals.  It's cute how he always reads the results of the BP, Temp, and Pulse.  When he announces the BP, the stethoscope is still in his ears and he says it just a liiiiitle too loud. :)