A Long 13 Hour Day

What a long day! Geri had been very low energy this week. It seems to take longer to recover after each round of chemo. We were scheduled for an MRI at 8:30 at Crawford Long but, as Geri was feeling so crappy, we left early to get there by 8:00 so we could go to the cancer center first to have blood taken to check levels. After the MRI, which finished at 10:15, we rushed the 8 miles to the surgeon's office to discuss the next treatment, surgery or radiation. After reviewing the MRI he reported that the chemo had reduced the tumor then discussed the pros and cons of what to do next. Geri decided to do radiation first (every day, 5 day/wk for 6 weeks) then surgery (4 days in hospital and total 6 week recovery), then probably another two rounds of chemo. Looks like surgery will be early July.

When we left the surgeon's office we got a voice mail telling us to return to the cancer clinic because Geri's platelet count was low. We return, make appointments to see the radiation oncologist on 7 May, then find out the arrangements had been made for a blood transfusion at the clinic facility at Emory, near where we were at the surgeon's office. Off we go again and arrive there at 12:15pm. This is a larger clinic than the one at Crawford Long and we were at the end of the line for the days intake. Consequently, we had to wait until 2:00 to even see a nurse, then they had to draw blood (another 30 mins) to type and cross, which they said would take 2 hours. I won't bore you with the details but the blood finally arrived at 6:00pm. They force fed a unit into Geri in one hour (the previous transfusions have taken about 2 hours/unit) and kicked us out at 7:05pm as they were putting out the cat and bolting the door for the night. We arrived home at 8:00pm and have to be there again tomorrow morning for platelet check, another unit of blood and possibily platelets.

Geri is a little better and her color is improved after the unit of blood but still no energy. Hopefully tomorrow she will be better after another unit. The radiation regimen will be easier on Geri and give a near normal life for a few weeks, for which she can't wait.