There is no substitute for the Spew

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Settle down class. Ms. Mellowsky could not be here today, so I will be substituting for her today. Don’t worry – I’ll be brief and liberal with my hall passes.

Lola is, as she has been for a while, by her Mom’s side this week and sad to say, it’s been a rough week. Gigi just can’t seem to catch a break. On Friday, Team Chemo was all packed and ready to go to St. Anne’s for GiG’s next dose, but when they go there, her “numbers” were off so they had to scrap the Chemo plans for that day. Forgive me, I don’t have Laura’s grasp of the medicine behind all the cancer (and few do), but I know the numbers being low was not a good thing. They battled this with a blood transfusion and more meds for the pain. My god – they gave her blood to make her feel better!

Over the weekend, GiG was pretty wiped out. Between the medicine for pain, nausea and breathing, it’s hard to do anything but sleep. And, with family monitoring her constantly, that is what she did. She tried to eat, but could only keep a few things down. As the day wore on, her strength came back a little and she would hold court in her room (of course she had to put on lipstick first). She was even able to eat some of Becky meatballs, but she grows tired fast and soon we all left her to the peace of her slumber, always a daughter (or husband) on hand to be there when she woke up. They never had days like this on The Brady Bunch. When I left them all on Sunday night, GiG was feeling a little better, although still sleeping so I didn’t get to say goodbye.

But the nights seem to be the hardest for our friend and Monday morning was a different story. She was in pain, trouble breathing and just feeling like crap. When her blood gases fell below a certain level (again, I am not sure if I have that right – I just know the numbers were bad), the decision was made to go to the hospital. Monday was spent in the ER. She was given some pain meds that gave her some relief and they were also able to take a CAT Scan which was scheduled for later in the week. She was there until after dark, opting to come home for the comfort of her home rather than trying to sleep in a noisy hospital. In true Mellow fashion, they all came home and had a hamburger feast in the kitchen (GiG ate a little).

My first text from Lola today was that it was more of the same – a rough night (up all night) and a trip back to the hospital seemed imminent. But, a call later gave a little better picture. GiG was sitting up and visiting with Our Tina. They were trying to feed her a little something and she seemed in good spirits. After I was bratty and told her she needed 2 ML of Ringer’s Lactate Stat (My only medical jargon learned from years of watching television), she even spouted back, “If you are not quiet, you’ll get a Compezine suppository.”

So that’s where we are – more of the same. There are more details that I didn’t get into and even more tears that I will save for Lola to pass along to her devoted readers. As you know, Lola knows her Spew fans like updates, so I am giving the update. Lola will be back soon to bring smiles to all the faces of her Spew-heads (just like she does to mine every day).