Don't let that title scare you, but it definitly has been a rough couple of days. When I concluded my last blog, I was saying how Jason had begun to throw up. It was getting worse. On the take home directions that we are given when we leave Chemo, it says to call the Dr if you have thrown up three or more times in the last 24 hours without the relief of medicine. By 10 pm Wednesday night, Jason had thrown up 6 times with only cutting back to 5 zofran a day rather than the 6 that was keeping it under control. Of course this is what I had blamed it on. It felt good to take my anger out on the insurance again. We called the Dr and he didn't think we needed to go to the emergency room that night, but he would call in a perscription for Ativan and said to start taking the Zofran every 4 hours again. He also said we should go to the clinic first thing in the morning. We went and picked up the prescription, and luckily, Jason was able to rest well enough that night. Although when he woke up that morning and violently threw up the pills I had just given him, I knew this was going to be worse than I thought. Jason got his labs done. I believe mainly to check if he was bad enough to be admitted. We didn't have to wait long to get into a room. When the Dr had came in, like on cue, Jason threw up viloently again. I saw the look on the Oncolgists face, someone who sees this all the time, and left the room. I was scared. I didnt know what to do. Since I couldn't call my mom to comfort me, I called the next best thing, my Mother-in-Law. I told her how bad Jason was and that there was no way he was going to be able to go home that weekend, and I wouldnt leave him at the hotel alone. She told me she would go home to Mel and they would figure out what to do. I was so relieved. When I told Jason that his parents would help us, he smiled for the first time in a long time.
The night before I had also called our amazing flight doc Capt. Dewilde, she told me she would get Jason what he needed. I told her that I would buy enough Zofran till we could get them from the pharmacy on base. After Debra had called me and told me she would fly into Abilene to take care of the boys so I could stay with Jason, I realized that we now wouldn't be able to get the Zofran pills from the base pharmacy. As Jason was resting with his IV fluid in him, I began calling a few people that could help me find someone who was coming up to Dallas in the next day that could bring the pills to us. I also knew that I needed to find someone to babysit the babies because I didn't want Debra wearing herself out tackling the babies while trying to watch Dylan and Jackson's games. It was good to be able to focus on something other than how horrible Jason was feeling. My life saver Sara said she would help me find some people to watch the babies. I felt bad having to tell her that she was mistaken and we still had another week to go. Luckily I got ahold of some people quickly. Our sweet neighbor Ana Ogdee would be there while they took there noon nap and a lovely girl from our ward Mariah Mayo. We had never used her before, but I had faith she would be great. It was a bonus when her mom told me she could drive. It just so happened that I knew for sure that someone was coming up to Dallas, because we talked about having her son stay at my house while she took her older daughter to a tournament up here. Jason was done with his IV fluids and we went straight over to Radiation. It didnt take long for him to throw up again, but I felt better knowing that he would have IV fluids again the next morning. While Jason was getting his radiation I was able to call my friend Lisa who was coming up. She said that they were not planning on coming up till Saturday morning. I told her that was fine and that I could just buy enough until I could get them from her. She said that she wasn't busy that night and that she could drive them up to me. I tried to refuse, but ultimately wore her down to meeting me in Weatherford so she wouldn't have to come through this dreadful traffic. She agreed to that. Jason and I finally got out of the Radiation clinic around 4 o'clock. I hated leaving him, but I knew that he was exhausted, and having peace and quiet for awhile would do him good. I got him his pills and tucked him into bed. Since it was 4:30, I figured I would head out and hopefully get farther then Weatherford so Lisa wouldn't have to drive so far. I got out of Ft. Worth without hitting too much traffic. Lisa and I kept texting each other to see where we would meet. We finally figured that Ranger was going to be a good spot. I pulled up to her car knocked on her window we both looked both ways while she quickly slipped me a brown paper bag. Considering how many pills there were and how much they were worth, discretion was due :) Nah just kidding, we joked about it! I kept telling her how terribly grateful I was to her for doing that for us, and the only reason I did it is so she would still let her son stay at our house that weekend. Dylan and him were DYNAMITE together!!!
The next morning was a replay of the day before. Although this time the nurse was able to get Jason's Oncologist to come in and see him. He said that he wasn't too surprised that he was feeling like he was, he was actually amazed that he hadn't felt like this before. He said that he had another young man that was actually also in the military, and he was getting half the dose that Jason was getting and he had to be admitted to the hospital. He did say though, that if Jason didn't get better by Tuesday that he probably wasn't going to let him have his Chemo. I knew I had to do everything this weekend to make sure that didn't happen. I had told my sister earlier that we were having to stay the weekend. She was nice enough to invite me to dinner with her and my brother in law. We had a great time. I had to take a picture of Ty with his lobster.
We started out ok. I babied Jason all day making sure he didn't move around too much especially after I had gotten him something to eat and given him a calorie-rich shake through his tube. We did pretty good and got a little too cocky around three o'clock Saturday. I needed to go to the pharmacy to pick up some meds for Jason. He wanted to go. This is where we learned our lesson. Don't go before you need your pills, don't go right after you eat something, and don't go on the HORRIBLE roads that are between here and the pharmacy. As I was coming back from the store I saw the sad look on Jason's face and emisis bag full in his hand. I felt defeated. I immediately knew that I probably shouldn't have let him come with me.
We had been waiting to hear from Jason's good friend Mike Heddinger. He had sent Jason a text asking him if he could pay us a visit. Unfortunaetly his timing wasn't the best, but we were not going to show it. We had just came back when the phone rang announcing Mike's arrival. What Jason should have done was lay back in his bed and settled down and then I should have given him his pills. He was too good of a host even in his poorest hour. We all sat down together and Jason tried to act like he was fine. Everytime Mike said he should go Jason told him that he was fine and refused to make something out of nothing. I was surprised when Jason let me give him his pills right in front of Mike, but obviously he felt comfortable enough around him. The nausea monster hadn't let us go yet and a few minutes after I gave Jason his pills, he threw them up! He tried to play it cool, but he couldn't hold back any longer and excused himself to rest a minute. If it had been anyone other than Mike it might have been uncomfortable, but Mike is one-of-a-kind. We were able to talk for an hour and a half about everything. Jason finally came back out looking more like himself. He kept saying how wonderful it was to see Mike again. I will never forget what he did for Jason and how much that meant to him! Thanks again Mike!
Love, Heather
Heather and Jason
ReplyDeleteI just want you to know that when I read your story in the Wylie weekly my heart went out to you both and your family. My husband is retired AF and we want to support you. I made a donation and wanted you to know who I was.
I also know how precious life is because our son Spencer and his girlfriend Jillian were both killed in a car accident back in November. He was only 19 and I just want to say what you probably already know...take every day and live it to the fullest.
Best wishes to you Jason and we pray for healing for you.
Jennifer and Greg LaBrie