This is Nurse Ginny.
Devree wants a perfect name for Ginny. Nurse Blog Stalker got a thumbs down as well as GiGi (for Ginny Googler). Devree says no.
It is so wonderful to be here with Devree & Shana!!! Putting my arm around Shana while sitting in the waiting rooms is paradise.
I have to say that I was holding my breath in anticipation. How would Devree look after losing 12 lbs? However, my worries were in vane. I think Devree looks good. She did have a bad day yesterday, so now I know what that is like.
A bad day is when Devree eats a little breakfast, and then looks at the pills that she has to take and groans. “Some of those pills are big,” She thinks. “Maybe I should have Mom chop them up? They taste nasty if they are chopped up…” She looks at the pills some more. “My stomach is a little unsettled; I sure hope I don’t throw up again.” (When they removed her tumor, they were worried about affecting her ability to swallow. Thankfully, that was not a big problem. She can swallow, but the paralysis affects the right side of her throat, and pills don’t go down as well if they happen to go on that side.)
Eventually Devree decides on breaking the pills up into pieces. Taking each piece is hard and she really has to think about it before taking action. She gets down to the last 2 pieces and winces because the first few pieces tasted nasty and now she is feeling nauseated. Now she is blanching at the thought of forcing down the last of them, but she does it.
Our poor little Devrs didn’t make it very long before both the pills and her breakfast were no longer in her tummy.
So that’s a bad day. When you start out like that, nausea haunts you the rest of the day. Today wasn’t all bad though. Devree was able to come home and have a long 3 hour nap and when she got up we watched a movie. The nausea let up and she ate a little.
Shana was able to pick up 1 more prescription to help with the nausea. Today will be a concoction of 3 different pills crushed in a tablespoon and mixed with yogurt. Hopefully this new mixture, combined with no more radiation on the spine (radiation that hits her tummy too), will get rid of the nausea permanently.
They have tons of fun things for the kids to do. So if Devree has a good day, it is a very good day. To me, yesterday was wonderful because I was with the girls all day. I hope today is wonderful for Devree.
I have to add one more thing to my long post. At lunch time I asked Devree if I could read something funny to her. She looked up and asked, “Is it ok if I don’t laugh?” But even in the midst of a bad day, Devree perked right up when I gave her the letters from her Sunday School classmates at church, and when Shana read the blog comments to her. Shana said that the letters from the early morning seminary kids (church bible study for teenagers that Devree misses) were a bright spot for her too. Devree loves to be reminded that she has not been forgotten. :-)
Love,
Todd
