Happy New Year and 1 Down, 5 To Go

Hi Blogster Buddies!!
We hope everyone had as enjoyable a Christmas celebration as we had. Can't believe the month of January is almost done too.
On the medical scene, I had a CT scan on Dec. 4. At my Dec. 9th check up and what I thought would be the beginning of the same chemo regimen, I was told that the Topotecan (the toucans) didn't work as well as hoped and I would begin another combination of chemo drugs - Cisplatin which I had the first time and Gemzar which I haven't had yet. It would be given 2 weeks on and two weeks off for 6 sessions, basically 6 months. They wanted to begin on Dec. 16th but that would mean I would have to go for the 2nd session on Dec. 23rd, the day Greg, Suzi and Jason were scheduled to arrive for Christmas. I asked if we could begin on Dec. 30 and they OK'd it. On Sat. Dec. 19th I was getting ready for bed and noticed a stream of blood coming from my left ear. Most people get bloody noses. Of course, I wanted to be different and have a bloody ear. I called Roswell to see if I should go to the ER but they said it would stop and just make an appointment the next week with my primary care dr. So I stuck some cotton in my ear and saw one of the doctors in the group I go to the following Monday (12/21). He said it was an external ear infection and prescribed some drops to put in for a week. Actually Dave put them in every morning and evening. Drainage continued to come out and the pressure gave me a headache so that I had to take Ibuprofin every 5 hours. When I went back for the follow-up, I told the dr. that I didn't think the drops did the trick because the drainage continued and was now more orangish. He took a sample to send to a lab, put me on penicillan for 10 days and sent me to an ear, nose and throat dr. The lab said it was streptococus-pneumonocus (don't think that was it exactly but it sounded like that to me.) The e/n/t dr. said I had a small hole in my eardrum which may have been good because it let the yuk out. The hole would heal. Because I had the ear infection, I could not begin the chemo because you can't have it when you have an infection. So I did finally begin on Jan. 13 and 20 to complete my first round. I am now on 2 weeks off and will have the next round on Feb 10 and 17. Side effects are minimal, mostly tiredness.
Last Sat. (1/23), I woke up at 5:30am to visit the BR and went down on all 4's. Still not sure if I passed out for a few seconds but I got up, went to the Br but had to hurry back to bed as I couldn't stand for very long. I slept another couple of hours hoping that feeling would go away. It didn't. I was fine sitting or laying down, but couldn't stand for very long. Called Roswell again and they told me to go to primary care dr. or ER. My dr.'s office has Sat. morning appts. but they couldn't fit me in so we went to Westfield ER around 2:30. They said I was anemic and had some internal bleeding. They could not take care of me there so I went by ambulance to St. Vincent's Hospital in Erie, PA., about an hour away from Fredonia. I never rode in an ambulance before so that was a new experience. I had to be on complete bed rest and couldn't get up for anything, even though the br was 3 feet from the bed. Couldn't have anything to eat except clear liquids until Monday night. On Sunday they did a dopler test on my legs and found there were some blood clots in the lower leg. On Monday they put a scope down to my GI track and found an ulcer most likely caused by the Lovenox injections I have been giving myself since March when a blood clot in the abdomen was discovered - common after surgery. I also have been taking low dose asprin for several years on the advice of my dr. to prevent heart attacks. The combination of the two blood thinners most likely caused the ulcer so I'm off asprin for good, off the injections for two weeks until Roswell decides when I need to go back on. The ulcer should heal in a couple of weeks. I'm taking a generic protonix med now for the ulcer (anti-acid drug). On Tues. they inserted a filter in my groin which will prevent any blood clots from going to my lungs. That's a good thing. I was released on Wednesday and got home about 3:30p.m., so happy to be home. Dave had a lovely bunch of daisies on the table for me, my favorite flower. I'm feeling better every day and will return to work on Monday. So that's this month's kind of long update.
Thank you for your continued prayers for both Dave and I. Got us through another hurdle. Always does. Always will. Have a happy heart all through February!
Love, Bunny Hugs and Blessings--
Teri/Theresa