Wendesday, October 4th

A long drive, a lot of pain and a rescheduling of the transplant. That pretty much sums up today. A better way to describe today would be to say “Today sucked!”

For Kerrie and Mom, today started with waking up and making a drive to Henry Ford Hospital for her catheter placement. For me, today started with waking up and driving to Michigan…. and trying to do it in time to meet Kerrie and Mom at the hospital. Anyone who knows me KNOWS I am NOT a morning person, so having to be on the road by 7:30am ranks right up there with fingernails on a chalkboard. This may sound like nothing to most people, but for someone with my nocturnal habits this is not an easy task. I hope Kerrie knows she’s worth it J

We met with Isabelle, her transplant coordinator, who went over all the information on the chemo she would receive, exactly what would take place with both of us on the day of the transplant and let Kerrie know about a few additional tests Kerrie would need to undergo before the transplant.

Aside from the catheter placement, MUGGA Scan, PFT’s and MRI.. a Bone Marrow Biopsy and Spinal Tap has been added to the list. Kerrie was very unhappy to find out the Bone Marrow Biopsy was on the schedule for this afternoon and would be done right after the catheter placement and I think it took everything she had not to let the tears run down her face.

Isabelle also lets us know that the bone marrow transplant had been pushed back by one day. Dr. Jana wants to review the results of all the tests before proceeding and the wonderful, fabulous insurance company stated it will not approve the bone marrow transplant without the results of the bone marrow biopsy. Hmm…yes, I suppose it’s possible Kerrie has been faking everything the last two months, so she could hang out in the hospital, so I guess it makes sense that the insurance company wants MORE proof. For now, Kerrie will bump everything back one day… she’ll check into the hospital on Monday instead of Sunday and I’ll push back my shots by one day . We’ll begin the actual transplant a day later as well. This is the schedule, for now, but we won’t be surprised if there is some other change between now and then. That has been the norm for us throughout the entire process so far, but at least it gives her one additional day at home where she doesn’t need to make a trip to the hospital for something.

Before reading any further, please review the following statement:

If you are easily moved to tears, grab a box of Kleenex and be prepared.. OR… don’t read any further. The following does NOT include graphic descriptions, profanity, partial nudity or acts of violence, but if you cry at sad commercials or hate to hear about people you love being in pain then the rest of this post may not be for you.

Kerrie was nervous about having the permanent port put in, but she’d had two other catheters before so she knew what to expect. There were some complications this time though. It appears she wasn’t reacting to the pain medication they were giving her. The nurse even stated to Mom and I, afterward, that they had given her enough meds to knock someone completely out but it didn’t have any effect on her. While they were installing the catheter, and tunneling through the vein, she kept telling them it hurt and they hadn’t given her enough medication. The nurse kept pushing more pain meds into the IV, but it still had no effect. She was crying and shaking when it was over and they even gave her more pain meds, afterward, to see if they could help her relax. It had no effect. After having to go through that she knew she still had to go through the bone marrow biopsy. As we sat with her in the recovery room she kept saying she was hungry and was insisting she was going to Burger King to get a Whopper. She hadn’t had fast food in almost a year, because of the Bariatric Surgery, and she wanted a Whopper.

Being the overbearing, realistic, older sister I was extolling all the reasons she couldn’t have a Whopper : She couldn’t have any of the toppings that were on it, especially the lettuce and tomato, and she couldn’t eat anything from a restaurant because we couldn’t ensure the cleanliness of the kitchen, food safety and sanitation, how the food had been prepared, etc. She didn’t want to hear it and told us we could have whatever we wanted for dinner, but if she had to walk to Burger King to get a Whopper she was going to do it. Her reason… “I’ve had a hard day and I deserve a reward.”

Little did we know the hard part of the day hadn’t started yet. She was taken upstairs and we met with Isabelle and the doctor who would do the bone marrow biopsy. We told them how the medication had no effect on her during the Port Placement, so they decided to give her a lot more medication before they began the biopsy. We also filled them in on how difficult the previous biopsies had been and the trouble the other doctors had because of how hard her bones are. The first doctor to do this, at NOMC, said Kerrie’s bones were made of stone.. Mom says it’s her fault for making Kerrie drink all her milk when she was a kid.

I’m not very good with splinters in the finger, let alone the sight of blood and someone sticking a long needle into my sister’s hipbone… so I decided to leave the room. Isabelle left the room a few times, and each time let me know Kerrie was doing well. During one of the times Izzy left the room I heard Kerrie say “I’m feeling kind of buzzy” which made me happy because that meant the pain meds were FINALLY doing some good. This only lasted a few minutes and the “buzzy” feeling wore off just as they were beginning to insert the needle.

Izzy left the room again and as she walked by me she said, “She really does have hard bones” and then she disappeared on the elevator. A few minutes later I heard Kerrie sobbing down the hall. Loud, painful sobbing. I couldn’t take it, so I got up to leave the waiting area and just then Isabelle came off the elevator with Dr. Jana. Isabelle looked at me and I told her I couldn’t listen to her so she said I should probably go downstairs and then she and Dr. Jana went into the room with Kerrie. I could hear her crying, so I left as soon as I could. I feel like I deserted her, but Mom was in there with her.

When it was over, Izzy came to tell me it was done and I could go back to the room. I asked her about the pain meds not working and we all felt it was possible that she had so much pain medication over the past two months that her body had built up a tolerance for it. It was going to take an awful lot to have any effect on her. She wasn’t under general anesthesia, because of the possible bad effects is could have on her liver and kidney’s but I think it would have been better than what she went through.

Kerrie’s eyes were filled with tears when she said, “I hope you couldn’t hear me.” I’m glad I left because I have a feeling there was more than the sobbing I heard.

She looked so sad and her face was streaked with tears. Isabelle had gone to get Dr. Jana because the doctor performing the biopsy couldn’t get the needle in. They kept giving Kerrie pain meds, but nothing was working and Kerrie’s bones are so hard the doctor was having problems. So Dr. Jana came to finish the job. Kerrie said the pain was shooting from her hip, down her leg into her toes. I can’t stand to see her like that.. next time I may have to lay on top of her body and refuse to let them do it until they put her under general anesthesia.

She had to lay still and rest, for about 30 minutes, so while she laid in the bed.. Mom dozed off in the chair, and Kerrie and I planned dinner. She knew she couldn’t have a Whopper so we settled on a childhood favorite… Macaroni and Cheese with sausage links J

It was yummy… but after what she’d been through I would have walked, barefoot, to Burger King to get her that Whopper. As far as I was concerned, she’d had a hard day and deserved a reward. If she wanted a Whopper I was getting her a Whopper.

Tomorrow is the MUGGA Scan, PFT Tests, ABG and Spinal Tap. If tomorrow is anything like today I’m getting her a Whopper and a Chocolate Milkshake.

Jenn