Connie (Mrs. WebSlave)

"I was looking at COVID home test kits, but they are saying something ridiculous like "Positive results are accurate, but negative results are not." Oh really?"

Part of this is certainly specimen collection by untrained people. Also, the sensitivity and specificity of the test itself are going to have to give a little in order to make a test for a couple dollars.

Even PCR tests can give false negatives (in part because of the inherent possibility of errors in the replication process, I've just learned).

Good that they put this on the packaging, so that people know that even if they test negative they still need to take precautions.

Anyway, I feel bad that there are so many little hurdles for you to leap in all this. Hopefully getting them aired out here helps at least a little bit.

Originally Posted by Socratic Monologue

...I feel bad that there are so many little hurdles for you to leap in all this. Hopefully getting them aired out here helps at least a little bit.

Me too.

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Originally Posted by WebSlave

I swear it seems like the medical field is just chock full of people who specialize at dropped balls, or just not really giving a crap about patients. But then you run into a true angel that shines far and above the rest of them. I guess anyone in our situation would pray they were all angels.

Saying a prayer that Connie is going to get rapid relief once the fluid is drained from her pleural membrane, that you continue improvement, and that you are under the care of the angels in the field. They are there, thankfully. I've been cared for by a lot of ball droppers myself, and I was always grateful for the angels, as I know you are.

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Connie had 1.6 liters of fluid drained from her right lung. This is the third drainage she has had so far. She was coughing quite badly afterwards, but when we got home (we were at the hospital for about 4 hours or so) we both just felt exhausted and crashed on the sofa and recliner. She does seem better now, without the persistent cough, so hopefully she will get a good night's sleep tonight and feel 100 percent better tomorrow.

But honestly, I am terrified about her chemo treatment on Wednesday. They will be the first time with all three drugs going into her. I never heard back from the place about my staying in the infusion room with her, and I will be quite honest about it, the heart attack took some fight out of me. I don't know how fragile my heart now is, and if that other artery being 60% blocked puts me in danger of having a PART 2 to the heart attack thing.

I would really hate to have to see Connie suffer some severe effects from the chemo. I will feel so helpless and useless. And I know if she does have severe reactions, sooner or later the question is going to arise to where she will wonder whether it is worth it or not. What do I say to that? "I want you to go through this agony because I am selfish and want more than anything in the world for you to get through this to be with me as long as possible?

Can I be that selfish just for that chance? Can I NOT be knowing the likely results?

Saying a prayer that all goes smoothly with the chemo this week.

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Hoping that the chemo treatment goes well for Connie. Hoping also that the impending tropical storm Alex does not add to the many miseries both of you are suffering.

Connie had her second chemo treatment today, and she seems to have taken it well. So far, at least. No negative reactions and she didn't come out of there in a body bag. Interestingly enough, no one made any moves to ask me to leave the infusions room, but I did wind up going back home for a few hours anyway. And the music volume they were playing in the infusion room was greatly reduced. Then on top of that, the office manager stopped by to talk with Connie and I after we had discussed with Connie's nurse that we would like to change oncologists. The current one is more a surgeon, and the one we would like to go with is an actual medical oncologist who friends of ours have been seeing for years and are very pleased with him. So Connie has an appointment with him next week.

They are also changing up some things, in that Connie will be taking one of the chemo meds once a week for four weeks instead of once every 3 weeks with the other two meds. This one med was the one that replaced Taxol after Connie had a very bad reaction to it. Oh, and we need to run in to the oncologist's office again tomorrow so she can get an injection that should help raise her white blood cell count. At least I think it is the white blood cells.

Originally Posted by Lucille

Hoping also that the impending tropical storm Alex does not add to the many miseries both of you are suffering.

Yeah, our luck for 2022 isn't running too hot, now is it? That sure would be icing to the cake to have our house destroyed by a hurricane. I think I would just dig a hole, jump in, and pull the lid over on myself.

Glad that Connie's experience today was a gigantic improvement over her first session. It's good for all of the patients that they have implemented many changes. I guess something good came of the awfulness Connie (and later because you love her, you) went through.

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Between Connie and myself, we have spent countless HOURS pulling off these surgical bandages that seem to be designed to survive a nuclear holocaust. Last week Connie had a monitor stuck to her chest to monitor her heart rate because her pulse has been elevated and a bit erratic. Stems back to when she had sort of a panic attack where her pulse rate "buried the needle" on our little pulse rate finger monitor. She still has some residue around the incisions of her surgery at the end of April. Oh, and she now has two belly buttons. You don't see that every day.

When I was in the ICU and it came time for me to get discharged, they sent in two pretty young aides to pull off my bandages. Half way through I said, "You know, I always through being manhandled by two young girls would have been a whole lot more pleasurable than this is turning out to be." They said "Not with us, it wouldn't!". Be careful what you wish for.

People who work at hospitals, and I guess other medical facilities, seem to just LOVE sticking people with needles and slapping adhesive with wild abandon all over the poor patients. Pretty much a given if you go into the emergency room or any other part of the hospital, the first thing they are going to do is to put an IV in your arm. Doesn't matter if they will need it or not, you ARE getting one. Maybe two. And if you are unlucky, you will get some bozo that it takes three or more tries before they get it right. I am thinking about getting a keyring that doubles as brass knuckles. Oh, for Connie, not me.

Originally Posted by Caryl

Glad that Connie's experience today was a gigantic improvement over her first session. It's good for all of the patients that they have implemented many changes. I guess something good came of the awfulness Connie (and later because you love her, you) went through.

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and !!