The palliatie care team at HSN is fantastic and vety attentive. I wish that I had their support the first time that I went through my treatment as the aid that they provide is awersome. The staff checks in weekly to make sure that you are doing well, even though I ignored their recommendations. I managed to get an appointment today for 12:30 and showed up at noon. Normally it id quick so I did not bring a battery backup. By the time I had my procedure it was closer to 3:15. I guess that some emergency had occurred and pushed things back significantly. Drainage normally takes a minimum of 2 hrs if not 4 hrs and I was a bit concerned as the palliative care nurses start early and I did not know what was going to happen. I have had this procedure done several times and they have told everyone there that I do not freeze well. The doctor this time decided to try and give me 3 times the maximum dosage to try and prevent me from feeling anything. I appreciate the sentiment but it did not work at all and what happened afterwards was I could no longer feel my legs and could not walk. It is an interesting sensation when your legs feel like they are not there and you are unstable. They originally asked me if I could walk down and I confidently said yes until I got up, took a step and realized that my legs were shaking. I then sat back down with some difficulty. A vol;unteer was calld and brought me to palliative care where they started the drainage. I appreciate the level of care that i received and the willingness of the team to stay later to drain me. I saw the doctor while I was there as he was in the area and he asked me if I needed anything or required any other additional treatment. I said I was ok, but he wanted me to try out the rinse for my mouth in the hopes of improving my taste buds. This time they managed to only drain 4liters which was nice. We were supposed to go to my parents for dinner and Xavier called and asked if they could deliver it as last time I did not do so well traveling with all of the motion.
My parents had a menu that they were supposed to make, but they also made one of my favorites which I really appreciate. They are stuffed hot peppers and my mother browned the meat extra which was nice of her. I managed to eat quite a bit more than Melanie expected and I kept on asking for more food. I think that tonight for dinner, I ate more than I normally would have for quite some time. The downside is that afterwards I am quite full and it takes a bit longer for me to be able to eat again. Normally I can eat again after 2 hours, but tonight I think that I need to wait about 3 hours because I feel full stiill, but not in a bad way. My organs also do not seem to be shifting around as much internally, as with 4l it is not as drastic of a drainage.
Going in today for the procedure was a bit unexpected and I told a couple of people about it and the support that I receive is amazing. I have so many offers for people to drive me to or from the hospital no questions asled and they would drop things to help me out. One of my friends today told me that it must be nice to be loved by so many people and I do agree that it is nice. Xavier had several appointmebts today and he spent the day being driven around by his grandmother. My parents deliver food on demand and will do grocery shopping for us as well. Mel willl rearrange her meeting schedules so that she can drive me and her boss and team are quite understanding of it all. I appreciate the collaborative nature that everyone has taken to ensure that I am well taken care of. My friend who works in the palliative care area drove me home so Mel did not have to. She also made sure that I was ok and got into the house ok. I think that she could also easily just toss me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes if I needed assistance walking. It reminds me that I am not doing this alone and that if I need people to help out or to talk to that so many people are available for me. It makes this all a bit less daunting when things do not go well.
Quoc Hao