Don't you hate it when you jinx yourself? When you say, thank God its Friday and then your work load causes you to work late? Or you forget to knock on wood? Or in my case, you blog about how great things are going only to be woken up 5 hours later to your hubby panting, my chest hurts...
Wednesday morning at 5am, Tony was complaining that his chest hurt. He kept mumbling over and over and over again, "my chest hurts." So much it woke me up out of a dead sleep. Well let's face it, Tonys chest always hurts. Food gets stuck, bile comes up the esophagus, all sorts of things, but this time something was different. Tony wasn't acting right. He wasn't answering my questions. He just said, my chest hurts over and over again. I put my ear on his chest and his heart was racing. I took his blood pressure and Tonys heart was beating 143 bpm. I quickly turned the light on Tonys teeth were chattering and he was white as a ghost. I took his temperature....it was 102.7. At that moment I called 911.
The paramedics got there and did all his vitals, I gave them the spreal, and they hooked him up to the heart machine...confirming the rapid heart rate. They took him straight in. Aydin saw Tony being taken on the stretcher and started to cry. Aydin was sleeping on the couch because he had been throwing up the night before. I heard a small voice ask, "mommy, is daddy going to be ok?" It was Aydin. Of course he is baby. This time though, Tony really scared me.
When I got to the hospital, they had already done a chest Xray. The doc came in and told me Tony had pneumonia. I said, with all due respect ma'am, this hospital is notorious for telling patients they have pneumonia and then sending them home with antibiotics, when in fact it wasn't pneumonia it was something else. I explain to heard that he was a cancer patient and that there were some concerning scans regarding his chest about a month ago. She assured me they would do a chest CT and get to the bottom of what was causing him to be so sick. See not only was Tonys pulse racing, his blood pressure had begun to drop. It went from 90s/60s to 80s/50s and then 70s/40s. They increased hus fluids to help with his bp. 4 liters in 5 hours!!!!! He was on oxygen and he was really out of it.
When the chest CT came back, it confirmed the pneumonia, but he had assperation pneumonia. Tony had been throwing up so much that he was asperating into his lungs. Because of the cancer and chemo, and now pneumonia and him not being stable with his bp, they admitted him. I quickly said, we request transfer to Duke...problem, Duke was not only on deferment, they had no beds. Cape Fear consulted with the oncologist and started 3 different antibiotics. The infectious disease doctor came in and tested for lots and lots of things...only to learn that Tony had E Coli in his lungs. Now I don't know about you, but I said, "How in the WORLD do you get E Coli in your lungs???" Well it comes from the GI track and assperation. I about fell on to he floor.
Because Tony was at Cape Fear I was able to go home at night took the boys into bed and get them off to school in the morning. Thursday I left the hospital a little early to go to Austin's football banquet. I video call Tony so that he could see austin get his senior award and also he received the special forces award for special teams. This was a great honor and we are so proud of him. Tony and I've learned over the years that with cancer especially we have to make do and sometimes that means video calls face time whatever you wanna call it so that he can participate in the kid's activities.
Friday Morning after I got the little ones after school Austin sent me a text telling me that he had thrown up. And went upstairs to check on him felt his forehead and said O boy. I got the thermometer and took his temperature only to find out that he too was running a fever. I didn't hesitate took him to the doctor and had him tested for the flu. He of course tested positive. So now I have Tony coming home from the hospital with E Coli in his lungs and pneumonia, my right hand has the flu, and I'm just thinking, Lord please help me.
I had a great conversation with Tony's and oncologists coming up with a plan now that there was E Coli and pneumonia in the mix, oh and household flu. Not only did Duke double the length of an a biopics for Tony to be on they also prescribe him 2 weeks work of tamiflu just in case. Under no circumstances was I to have Austin anywhere near Tony because Tony can not afford to get the flu on top of everything else. Poor Austin has been quarantined in his Room with his laptop making up homework with meds round the clock lots of Gatorade, and dayquil nyquil. I have been bleaching and Lysoling the house keeping everyone in their rooms. Tonys doc also suggested that I take Tamiflu because I was caring for everyone and would be around both Austin and Tony. So apparently we cleaned out the pharmacy with Tamiflu. Hahaha
Needless to say this is all a lot and sometimes I wonder how in the h*** am I gonna get through this. but then great friends and family Do things like meal trains in order Chinese and pizza so it's one less thing that I have to worry about. A great friend brought over subs and chips and sprite today which was perfect because we could munch on it as we were hungry while I finished sanitizing the house. I know God doesn't give us more than we can handle, but he sire knows how to push the envelope.
It's good to have Tony home and I'm grateful that we are able to treat what he has with meds, but this also means that Tony will not be able to get chemo on Tuesday as planned. He will again have to skip around of chemo because he was too sick. The chemo is what's keeping tony's cancer at Bay and I get scared when we start skipping it. In the meantime I'm not gonna focus on that I'm gonna focus on getting my family healthy and keeping myself healthy because the 2nd I get sick all h*** will break loose.
I can't thank you all enough for your thoughts prayers donations food deliveries words of encouragement and so much more over this past week. Please continue to pray for Tony's healing and that Austin gets over this flu. Go I normally don't ask for much I will ask of this, February 27th, Debbie Dream foundation will be having our 6th annual advocacy day on Capitol Hill. Ladies and gentlemen this is where the funds come for research...the true big pots of money...the research that will find a cure. We have to keep raising awareness so I encourage you if you are free that day and can make it to DC please join us in meeting with our legislatures and lobbying for stomach cancer awareness. We have to tell Tonys story and Debbies story, and your story. We have to tell our children's story. For their pain is real just like ours. I encourage all of you to be a voice.
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