ER

Last night Marc discovered that one of his calves was larger than the other and his foot was swollen. It had been bothering him a bit for a week, but he felt it was getting better until yesterday. The mom of one of his martial arts students is an oncologist. She looked at it told him to go to ER and have it imaged. So off we went.

Last time we were at ER, he had a superficial vein clot. This time he had a deep vein clot. The ER doc called the oncologist on duty at OHSU. Marc had to have blood drawn to check his platelets before they gave him the blood thinner. The good news is that his counts are already up. So, next chemo treatment will go on schedule! He has been put on lovenox. It is a blood thinner that he has to inject into his abdomen twice a day. The nurse asked who was going to give him the shot. NOT ME. He was a bit freaked out by it and kept saying he'd never put metal into his body on purpose before. I told him I could probably do it if he needed me to, but he finally poked the needle in and didn't even feel it. When he began putting in the medicine, he said he could feel it stinging. The nurse told him that his abdomen would bruise and that he should give the injection in a different place each time. He will be on this med for 7 days.

We will see Dr. Blanke for a follow up in the next few days. Marc will probably be put on another blood thinner at that point that is an oral med.

The other good news is that I don't have a meeting at school till 10:00 this morning and my room looks passable for the open house tonight.

My good friend Debora, the best K teacher at Yacolt, had said last time we went to ER that the kids could call her if they didn't want to stay alone. She lives about 1.5 miles from us. Last night Rose called her about 10:00. She took Rose to her house for the night and Brett went to his friend Jordan's house. Debora and Jordan's mom Kim are also good friends. Brett and Jordan have gone to school together since we moved to Yacolt. His parents both work at my new school. Kim is a school Psych at the middle school and George teaches 3rd grade in my building. They are wonderful people. We are so blessed. Especially since there are many others who are willing to step in and help out. Many have already and many more will will get their turn as time passes.

This morning Marc said he doesn't know what is wrong with himself. It feels like his body is falling apart. The bummer is that is chemo's job.

My goal is to get all my planning done before Labor Day Weekend so I can finish painting in the living room. The dr. appointment may throw a monkey wrench into that. The other thing I am working on is getting pictures on this site and finding a way for it to email when a blog is posted. Thanks for your prayers and patience.