We made it to Iowa City by 6:10 a.m. It was dark driving the ENTIRE way. I think the horizon started to crack some light as we were walking into the hospital. She checked in and then the staff immediately got her into one of those lovely gowns and a paper thin robe (we packed her good one for later) and then put some support socks on her feet that stretched all the way up her calves. She was already complaining about her feet getting cold.
After the usual questions, blood draw and going over forms, the anesthesia-boy came in (he didn't look a day over 20) and two sticks later he had her set up with an IV. Then a lot of people with surgical hats started buzzing around so I left her at 8:00 a.m. with a kiss and hug. She didn't seem any more anxious than usual, and she was comfortable around the nurses. The staff were very talkative and they immediately noticed on her sheet that she was a retired nurse, so there was plenty to talk about.
After a coffee run, Tom and I found a spot in the surgical waiting area. Earlier the nurse said that the surgery was scheduled for 4 1/2 hours tops, so hopefully by noon Dr. Degeest will be down to talk about how the surgery went.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Surgery moved up
The hospital called mom a short while ago and said they had to bump her up in the schedule - so now she is having surgery at 8:00 a.m. We need to check in at 6:30 a.m. which means we have to leave Geneseo by 5:00 a.m. UGH! Let's hope McDonalds has coffee brewing...
Surgery scheduled
The surgeon's office called mom this afternoon and they have her in the schedule for 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. They want us there earlier to check in and so forth, but that's the plan for now.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009
Waiting for surgery
Mom celebrated her 71st birthday on Tuesday by going out with her Jazzercize friends for lunch and then going out to dinner with me and Tom to Sweet Pea's, a new restaurant in Geneseo. I don't think I mentioned that she was up to 102 pounds, so all this eating is doing her good.
She's trying to get as much done as she can this week... errands, etc. The other night she was stressing out about cleaning and vacuuming and I looked around the condo and thought to myself "It's already clean." The woman doesn't make a mess, so what is there to clean?
Our good friends Bill and Karen were out on a walk this evening with their granddaughter Ella and stopped by to say hi. Bill is the guy who had his 50th birthday last month and wanted to collect some contributions and make a donation in mom's name to an ovarian cancer fund for research/education. He had quite a party - and I've never seen someone so happy to read birthday cards. The donations came out to about $350 and he and Karen are going to donate it to Trinity Hospital where they can use the money for wig vouchers to give women who are starting chemotherapy. The vouchers can be used at a boutique where they custom fit and order wigs for women. Mom got hers there and they did a great job (as seen in photos) and were wonderful to work with.
At this time next week mom will be out of surgery and on the road to healing. I'm sure she will recuperate fairly quickly, she was talking with the nurses at U of I about making sure that they get her up out of bed as soon as possible. She is worried about forming blood clots and wants to make sure that there is no chance of that happening. Her main goal is to try and make it to my niece Samantha's wedding on Oct. 3. I think that is pushing it a little, but when she's determined to do something, she does it.
She's trying to get as much done as she can this week... errands, etc. The other night she was stressing out about cleaning and vacuuming and I looked around the condo and thought to myself "It's already clean." The woman doesn't make a mess, so what is there to clean?
Our good friends Bill and Karen were out on a walk this evening with their granddaughter Ella and stopped by to say hi. Bill is the guy who had his 50th birthday last month and wanted to collect some contributions and make a donation in mom's name to an ovarian cancer fund for research/education. He had quite a party - and I've never seen someone so happy to read birthday cards. The donations came out to about $350 and he and Karen are going to donate it to Trinity Hospital where they can use the money for wig vouchers to give women who are starting chemotherapy. The vouchers can be used at a boutique where they custom fit and order wigs for women. Mom got hers there and they did a great job (as seen in photos) and were wonderful to work with.
At this time next week mom will be out of surgery and on the road to healing. I'm sure she will recuperate fairly quickly, she was talking with the nurses at U of I about making sure that they get her up out of bed as soon as possible. She is worried about forming blood clots and wants to make sure that there is no chance of that happening. Her main goal is to try and make it to my niece Samantha's wedding on Oct. 3. I think that is pushing it a little, but when she's determined to do something, she does it.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Pre-op and prep work: DONE
One word to describe the University of Iowa Hospitals: thorough. I think mom expected to be in and out of there today in about an hour, but it didn't work out that way. We arrived at the Cancer Center for her appointment at 9:30 a.m. and went through all of the steps that we did back in April: visit with the resident, the physician assistant, get a chest x-ray, an EKG, give more blood, talk to anesthesiologist... just when you think you are done there is always one more thing to do. So we got out of there today a little before 4:00 p.m., but she has ALL of the instructions needed and has talked to the resident and signed the surgery consent form (again). In theory she could have surgery tomorrow if needed.
There were a lot of little instructions, like what to eat and when to stop eating before surgery. No vitamins, aspirin or ibuprofen the week before (Tylenol ok). And she can take her Lovenox shot the day before but not the day of surgery.
I'm not going to talk about the "bowel prep" part... that's about as scary as the surgery.
She has an appointment next week at Trinity 7th Street Moline to flush her port cath out again just to make sure that they can access it during surgery. When it goes without use it will get clogged up with misc. tissue and fibers that the body produces when something foreign is in the body. The last thing she needs is problems with the port the day of surgery.
The surgeon's office will call her on Monday, the day before surgery, to tell her what time to report to the hospital on Tuesday. We accidentally walked into the surgery floor when we were wandering around the hospital trying to find the cafeteria, so at least we know where to go that morning. The U of I Hospital is gi-nor-mous and you could spend a week in there and never step a foot outside. One woman we were with in Elevator H said that she hadn't been outside in two days.
She hasn't said what she wants to do for her birthday yet (Tuesday the 15th!!! Get your cards in the mail!!!), but I'm thinking that we will go out to dinner on Tuesday night to a new place out in Geneseo that just opened up recently. She was tired today - and just plain achy.... and ready for this surgery to be over with. She's already talking about trips that she wants to take next year and has signed up for one with her "Classic Club" and is also thinking about a trip to AZ in the spring. It will be nice to see her having fun once again after this is all over.
There were a lot of little instructions, like what to eat and when to stop eating before surgery. No vitamins, aspirin or ibuprofen the week before (Tylenol ok). And she can take her Lovenox shot the day before but not the day of surgery.
I'm not going to talk about the "bowel prep" part... that's about as scary as the surgery.
She has an appointment next week at Trinity 7th Street Moline to flush her port cath out again just to make sure that they can access it during surgery. When it goes without use it will get clogged up with misc. tissue and fibers that the body produces when something foreign is in the body. The last thing she needs is problems with the port the day of surgery.
The surgeon's office will call her on Monday, the day before surgery, to tell her what time to report to the hospital on Tuesday. We accidentally walked into the surgery floor when we were wandering around the hospital trying to find the cafeteria, so at least we know where to go that morning. The U of I Hospital is gi-nor-mous and you could spend a week in there and never step a foot outside. One woman we were with in Elevator H said that she hadn't been outside in two days.
She hasn't said what she wants to do for her birthday yet (Tuesday the 15th!!! Get your cards in the mail!!!), but I'm thinking that we will go out to dinner on Tuesday night to a new place out in Geneseo that just opened up recently. She was tired today - and just plain achy.... and ready for this surgery to be over with. She's already talking about trips that she wants to take next year and has signed up for one with her "Classic Club" and is also thinking about a trip to AZ in the spring. It will be nice to see her having fun once again after this is all over.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Surgery date: Sept. 22
Dr. DeGeest had pretty much the same opinion that he had 5 months ago - that the best approach to getting all of the cancer is to have surgery. Even with all of the CT scans and tests, they really don't know what is going on inside her abdomen until they can actually look and see. He will remove her uterus and ovaries and then remove any cancer attached on her abdomen (debulking). He is hoping that there won't be any on her bowel or colon.
He was impressed with the results of the chemo treatments, and told mom to possibly expect more chemo treatments after surgery. She will know more about that after she follows up with Dr. Porubcin 3 weeks after the surgery.
She saw another doctor with Internal Medicine this a.m. to go over a few details about bloodwork and when to hold off on the Lovenox before surgery. There's another pre-operative procedure that she needs to go through, so next Thursday is another trip to Iowa City before the surgery on the 22nd.
He was impressed with the results of the chemo treatments, and told mom to possibly expect more chemo treatments after surgery. She will know more about that after she follows up with Dr. Porubcin 3 weeks after the surgery.
She saw another doctor with Internal Medicine this a.m. to go over a few details about bloodwork and when to hold off on the Lovenox before surgery. There's another pre-operative procedure that she needs to go through, so next Thursday is another trip to Iowa City before the surgery on the 22nd.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Month of Teal
It's officially Ovarian Cancer Awareness month! I still have few "Teal the Cows Come Home" polish to give to my friends. My toes have been teal for the last couple of weeks, so I'll make it through the month fine. I can go two weeks without a touch up. The weather isn't cooperating though – it has been so cold in the mornings for the last two days that I've got shoes and socks on my feet so you can't see my teal. I tried to wear the polish on my hands over the weekend, however it was too distracting. Everywhere I looked I saw my teal nails out of the corner of my eye. If I was stranded on a desert island I'm sure I could have flagged down a jet.
Tomorrow is mom's Iowa City appointment with Dr. DeGeest the surgeon. She has to be there at 9:40 a.m. so I'm thinking we'll leave around 8:15 to give enough time. I'm assuming we'll be there all day and that she'll have to go through another round of tests like before. She has her most recent scans on CD and will bring those along.
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Tomorrow is mom's Iowa City appointment with Dr. DeGeest the surgeon. She has to be there at 9:40 a.m. so I'm thinking we'll leave around 8:15 to give enough time. I'm assuming we'll be there all day and that she'll have to go through another round of tests like before. She has her most recent scans on CD and will bring those along.
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