Thursday, July 11, 2019

Day 34: July 10, 2019

Thank you, universe, again for the up close and personal perspective of what Oliver is going through. WELCOME TO DAY 34. Also known as: the day the pukes exploded. Also: HOLY HELL.


I eluded in my day 33 post as to what happened towards the end of day 33, but I was in no coherent state to write about it. I basically couldn't sleep that night- got up around 11:30pm due to my stomach hurting. Had what my sister in law would call a "minor exorcism" and thought I was a-ok. Went out to the kitchen to grab some homeopathic meds and went back in to the bathroom as I was still not feeling 100%. The next thing I remember is looking up at Justin, and looking around trying to get my bearings only to find that: I was covered in puke, there were puke piles all over the bathroom, and what in the hell? I was still puking? I DON'T PUKE. Quite literally, I have not thrown up like that in any way, shape or form since I was probably 10 years old. And even more scary: it's like my body had shut down and didn't psychologically know how to deal with BARFING, so I had completely passed out and don't remember a thing about it. I was REALLY lucky that Justin came in there as if he had not, I could have landed in the ER. He basically caught me before I really injured myself from passing out and said that I continued to puke as my eyes were rolled and legs were completely straight- so much that he couldn't get me to the toilet. (After the fact: nice shiner on the side of my head, my hip, and a completely black toe.....lovely!)




Justin was totally freaked out. I was completely stunned. I kept saying, I barfed? Apparently.


Justin forced me to sleep on the bathroom floor as I so incoherently threw up everywhere that he thought the bed might be a complete mess. Little does he know I DO NOT BARF and so I was one and done. Almost puked again at 2am, but I was aware enough and my body did not revolt, so I put mind over matter. I had choppy sleep from about 1-5am and finally at 5, I said, screw it, this bathroom floor sleeping sucks. I'm not going to barf, to the bed I go. Over the course of those 5 hours, Justin had set up camp in the hallway outside of the bathroom door to make sure I was ok. It is in those "sickness and health" moments, that you realize you have a good partner who truly takes care of you, sees you at your absolute worst, and still loves you.




At around 8am on day 34, Justin started puking. Yippee for barf! Barf for you, barf for me, barf for three (Bennett the day before)! Actually barf for four, as we think this all started with Owen in Kansas City.... hoping so anyway (fingers crossed)! Justin was not one and done, and puked for about 8 hours. Yay. Seriously hoping that Colleen and Oliver don't get it, although the saving grace is: 1) It's short and 2) Oliver's counts are at least up and he already feels like puking, so he might not even realize he has it if he gets it. And honestly, we have no room to complain. This is probably only a fraction of how terrible Oliver has been feeling on the daily. Again, thank you universe for allowing us the perspective to be able to have empathy. Not like we didn't before, but feeling like such holy hell first hand is a good reminder.




A couple of lovely shots Justin took of me from my night on the bathroom floor. I was not going to include them, but figure everyone else has had super crappy pictures... so, you're welcome.




Some pictures of the kids at the zoo from Colleen. She completely and 100% saved us yesterday.














This is how Justin spent most of the day, when he wasn't in the bathroom ralphing. He said he also has not been sick like this in years. Again, at least it was short, and like I said, we really do not have room to complain.


Oliver was doing pretty well today. No fever, felt pretty good, scaled back a bit on the meds, and even played with his video game (which of course Owen loved to watch). So cute as Owen kept asking Oliver questions and Oliver was so patient with Owen.


We were also delivered Oliver's shots. It was a day late, so we'll only get 4 shots in instead of 5 (you can't do them within 24 hours of chemo). First shot, check! Justin was way more nervous than Oliver. Oliver didn't even flinch.










I was still not feeling 100%, but good enough to try to get the kids out and away from everyone to get a little peace. We ventured out to PCC to buy a few things, including peppermint for our pissy tummys, as well as some Claritin at the market for Oliver (supposed to help with the side effects of the shot-- sometimes the growth hormone causes growing type of pains, and for some reason the Claritin helps with this).



We also ventured outside for a few minutes, too, before dinner. I basically sat and watched the kids, but hey, better than nothing! Thank GOD for Colleen who also made the kids dinner yesterday. And breakfast. And lunch.





Colleen also took the kids on a bike ride after dinner. Again... SAVED US. Justin and I basically sat on the couch and passed out. Feeling much better by the evening, but we were both just tired.



It was rainy yesterday, so the boys were pumped at how muddy they got on their ride. Ha!




And look at all of these #oliverstrong photos today! Amazing! We are grateful that although today was a sick day for us, it's still not the illness that Oliver is experiencing, but again, it gives us perspective as to a tiny fraction of what he must be feeling like. We are grateful that he is in a spot to where we weren't in the hospital and he is here so that us being sick didn't have a negative effect on us being there for him. Obviously, would have been great if we weren't sick, but at least the timing was ok. At least his counts are at a place to where if he did get Oliver sick, Oliver could fight it. Lots of positives even in the worst. And literally: he is on day 34 of this. For us, it was less than 24 hours. We have zero room to complain.















And, one last thing: one of Justin's RC car buddies made car decals for him. He made 10 that he is mailing to us for family, but for anyone who wants to buy them for $5, they are available ($2 of the proceeds will go to Oliver's medical expenses). I vetoed putting the blog address on the decal, but was overruled by everyone. Gah. But if you are so inclined to sport one of these, the address is: https://performancerc.net/products/oliverstrong-vinyl-window-decal




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