How are things going?

If you had asked me that question a week ago, I would have told you NOT good. It is so true when they say that a cancer patient will have their good days and their bad days.

Here is the current status of my dad: He is still in the hospital, he has completed his first round of chemo, and we are awaiting the second round to start in a few days and radiation to begin March 2nd. Not exactly sure when he's going home, but it won't be any time soon. Let me explain...

There is a nurse at Baptist East, on the cancer floor, who for the sakes of this blog will be named Dreta. Dreta because I dread all the days that she's my dad's nurse. She is manipulative, rude, and inconsiderate. Here are Dreta's latest highlights:

1. She once answered a phone call from me while I was at work like this: "What DO you NEED?" (Emphasis on the caps) Rude.

2. She refused to tell me any info about my dad over the phone without a password (that we never set up) because NO ONE TOLD ME TO AND A BAZILLION DOCTORS CALL ME EVERYDAY AND DON'T ASK FOR A PASSWORD.

3. She told my dad that I asked to doctor to with hold pain medicine from him. OMG. That is a story within itself.

4. Once said password was set up, she still refused to tell me some information.

5. She once told me on the phone, "Look, I'm having a bad day." Boo freaking hoo.

6. She walked down the hallway and loudly said, "We runnin' an ICU on this flo' huney!" I find that extremely unprofessional.

7. She once had my dad so drugged up that he didn't eat his dinner AND gave him insulin anyway, causing his blood sugar to bottom out. Talk about an almost diabetic coma!

Oh Dreta...you have been turned in to your supervisor twice by me. And a nasty letter is going to the head person at that hospital. Just as soon as I have time to write it!

My dad had some rough days. They couldn't get his pain medication right. He was either so doped up that he thought it was 1972 or so lightly medicated that he was climbing the walls with pain. Since then, they have a pain psychologist on his case which has attributed some of his pain to be psychological. They have it much more regulated now.

He has these severe mouth sores right now. They are a side effect of the chemo. They also make it extremely hard for him to eat. He has been refusing physical therapy, until today! Praise God! His blood sugar is running low because he just isn't interested in eating. He became septic due to an infection, and now he is also running the risk of getting pneumonia especially if he doesn't get out of bed more.

All that aside, he had a good day today. He got up and moved, sat in a chair for about 30 minutes and then went back to bed. I went up after work and shaved his beard off. He looks better after that. My sweet momma even came up with me. :)

This weekend was hard. I dealt with something else in addition to my dad's health issues. My dad has had a beloved beagle dog for 14 years. Lucy. Well, Lucy hadn't been eating much since my dad went in the hospital. The lady who was checking in on her was concerned. As of last week she wasn't eating ANYTHING. I called the vet (who happens to be Bella's vet) and he said that if Lucy still hasn't eaten by Friday (Feb. 17) to bring her in. So, I had a half day on Friday, and after school I went and picked up Lucy to take her to the vet because she still hadn't eaten. She was very sad looking. She would get up and walk around, but she just was so sad and sullen. I carried her to the car and took her on to the vet. He called later that day and said that upon physical examination, everything seemed ok. He ran blood work just to be safe. Well, this past Saturday he called with the results. Lucy was in kidney failure. She had at best a week to live. So, Chris went and talked to my dad about it, because I couldn't do it. He gave us the go ahead. Sweet Lucy is in Heaven now. God Bless her. I hope that she knows now that my dad didn't leave her, and that she understands that he would have taken her to the vet if he knew there was this problem. So sad.

That was HARD to deal with this weekend.

But all of that aside, I will do another post after this...and it's probably one of the most important things I'll ever write. :)

Katie