It sounds like Linda might just stay in the temporary room they
put her in for a little while. That's the best info I have. She
is currently in Room 8101-2. I would imagine things can just be
sent to her at the UC Davis address below, attention patient Linda
Lowe without a room number specified. That way they'll have to look
up the most current information.
I just talked to her, and she got her liquid arm candy last night.
She seems to be a little more chipper. I'll see her later this afternoon,
so I'll update this if anything changes (things get worse or she
jumps up to join Joe in dancing a jig).
P.S. For the most part, they're taking very good care of her at
this hospital. I love her surgeon and her oncologist. I think they're
wonderful, as is most of the staff I've dealt with. This is just
frustrating in general. You're always going to run into rude
people, and with such a large institution, sometimes you will feel
like a number. But its a top notch cancer center.
December 22, 2004
Linda is in the recovery room, and they've given away her room,
so I no longer have a room number for everyone. Joe and I
had plans to go decorate it for Christmas.
I forget how it came about, but the nurse was like, "She doesn't
have a room anymore."
To which I, of course said, "You gave away her room!?" (incredulous)
"Yeah, a long time ago."
"A long time ago? She just had surgery last night. Where is
her stuff?!"
"In storage. We have more people than beds for them."
"Ooookay...."
Meanwhile mom is practically begging them to feed her (liquid supplements
mind you) because she is sooo hungry, almost crying, and the nurse
is trying to kick me out of the recovery room. Have you ever been
back in the recovery room? I don't know what it is about it... I've
seen a lot of things done to people now that I never thought I could
stomach. But just going into that room with all those people lined
up with tubes, machines beeping... Going back there makes me incredibly
naseous. Incredibly. It doesn't help that I'm still getting morning
sickness. So I pull over a chair (twice) and sit down and twice
the nurse makes me get up and moves the chair back across the room.
Subtle. So I left, cause the last thing mom needed was me throwing
up on her. I told her to call if they didn't find her TPN bag (the
fancy bag that holds the liquid food that is fed to her through
her arm). That's right. Find. They were supposed to have it hooked
up three days ago. And mom hasn't eaten since two days before
her surgery. That would be December 7. Actually, she
tried twice to eat after her surgery but threw it up (the first
hint of the looming complications to come).
This is so frustrating. Thank you. I needed to vent.
Oh! Update. As I was spell checking this, Joe answered the phone.
It was mom. She said she has a temporary room, but it is a corner
'suite' as she put it. I guess when they realized how long it had
been since she had been fed, they rushed the room process along.
"
They are preparing to feed her. Thank god.
And Joe is wrapping the gifts I haven't yet shipped to people, dancing a jig, trying to cheer me up. He's such a good guy.
Oh! Good news is that today is the first day of the second trimester!!! I'm officially in the fourth month (15 weeks)!!
Also, thank you Stace for the cookies, Dad and Janice for the goodies, Justin and Stephanie for the jam and ornament (cool canoe!) and Carolee and Paul for the taffy! Christmas cards will be late this year. Gifts too.
December 21, 2004
I know. I'm the worst webmaster ever. I've been preoccupied. Linda
is still in the hospital. At first the surgery seemed to have gone
flawlessly, but a few days afterwards she began vomiting and suffering
from complications. Turns out that this surgery, the first surgery,
and the radiation treatments from two years ago had finally conspired
to cause her problems. We've been waiting to see if they would resolve
themselves, but they didn't. Today her surgeon decided to go in
and intervene. I got the phone call as I headed home from work.
Joe met me at the hospital, where we said hello to Linda, and then
waited three hours for some news.
This latest surgery went well, but Linda will probably be in the
hospital at least another seven days. That means she'll be at UC
Davis over Christmas. Any holiday wishes can be sent to her at:
University of California,
Davis Medical Center Room 8783-2 (Davis Tower)
2315 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817 916.734.2011
December 13, 2004
I have a ton of photos to show you from our trip to Las Vegas last
weekend, but they'll have to wait a day or two. Today's posting
is just to let everyone know how Linda's surgery went
Linda had surgery to remove her tumors on Friday December 10th. The surgery took about 6.5 hours. The doctor said he got all of the tumors and found no surprises while doing the surgery. Linda sailed through surgery like a champ, and has been recovering very very well. She has finally been given her own room. For those of you wondering, she is at:
University of California,
Davis Medical Center
2315 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Room 8783-2 (Davis Tower) 916.734.2011
I will put up a regular entry in the next couple of days.
