The Loy Family: Together again

My family is all together in Chicago now. The boys arrived Sunday morning to a mommy/wife that was very excited to see them. Mason had his first ride on the subway...just like Curious George! He was exhausted from the red eye (he only slept for about the last hour of the flight) and crashed pretty well in the apartment.

Monday I let him sleep in and went to check into the hospital. There was some initial confusion about which room I was going to be in, but it was soon squared away. After Todd and Mason were up and fed, they brought me coffee and caught the tail end of my visit with the nurse practitioner that works with Dr. Burt. I got started on an IV of fluids first, had the dreaded foley catheter placed (which actually wasn't as bad as I thought) and they started Mesna. Let me back up, the foley is because the type of chemo they're giving me can stick to the wall of the bladder and cause damage. The mesna is a medication that protects the bladder, and the fluids and lasix keep you hydrated and peeing, but sense I have bladder issues from MS, the foley ensures that everything is being flushed out.

About a half hour before the chemo starts, they pre-medicated me with lasix, two anti-nausea medications, and a steroid. Then the cytoxan (chemotherapy) was started. The boys were back in my room (after Mason's lame attempt at a nap) just in time for the first chemo to be started. It was an easy two hour infusion, but I was glad they were there for part of it. The main immediate side effect I had was being really hot. Probably from the steroid more than anything, but it was really uncomfortable.

Mason and Todd brought dinner back to the hospital room and Mason snuggled with me and watched a movie on my laptop while we enjoyed our pizza from Gino's. They left to get Mason in bed, and I had a pretty uneventful night of trying to get some rest in a hospital. I had a little nausea that was treated quickly before it got bad, and between a 1am blood draw and lasix dose and a 5am check of fluids and vitals, I actually slept pretty well.

Tuesday morning (today) Dr. Burt and the nurse practitioner Amy came in the morning during rounds and ordered another dose of the pre-chemo anti-nausea medication to try to help avoid any further nausea for tonight (fingers crossed, so far it seems to be working). After I was given my discharge instructions and medications to start this weekend, I just had to wait for the mesna to finish running through the IV and to be disconnected from all my "hoses" as Mason calls them. I was back in the apartment in time for lunch.

I was more tired today than I expected, so I took an extra long nap while Todd and Mason went out exploring. It was nice to just relax today in our apartment. Mason needed a few extra snuggles tonight from mommy, especially at bed time, to convince him that I wasn't going to sleep at the hospital again, but he seems to be sound asleep already as I type this.

Tomorrow is our Cubs game, which should be fun. Then we have a whole list of places we want to go see before we head back home. Here's some pics to enjoy for now...I need to get the ones off of Todd's phone, too. He has some cute ones as well.