A long whine

Tuesday night I went to my son's preschool Christams program. While there the Director announced that the school was experienceing the flu in epidemic proportions. PA is the only eastern state with the epidemic. My son had a flu vaccine one week ago and it is not effective yet. My pediatrician recommended keeping him home this week and maybe next depedning on what my husband's oncologist thought. So I have been home trying to work, trying to keep structure in the day for Nathan. And not doing a good job of either. My boss has passive agressive tendencies toward women with children concerns. This makes the whole situation just great!

My husband started radiation and chemo yesterday. He stopped on the way home to check on a client's problem. He vomited when he got back in the car. Came home glum. He took another anti-nausea pill with some flat ginger ale and vomited everything again! I called the Emergency Doc and he said to try more fluids in a couple of hours. We did and John had crackers and water before bed. All was well, thank God.

He has eaten today and is supposed to have a change in meds prior to today's treatment.

He wears a pump around his waist with a tube running into a port in his chest. Seeing that and all the incision scars and knowing how he felt was just too much. His eyes cried out "I don't want cancer anymore".

It was so hard to see him hurl into a waste can in the living room with my son (5) watching and then have tears running down his face because of the despair over the situation.

Many people have it worse than we do but it feels good to whine a little. No one ate dinner. Nathan had a few bites of stuff but the whole family was in a funk.

This morning Nathan was "writing" a letter to Daddy's doctor to tell him not to make Daddy so sick. This is way more than a five year old should have to deal with.

I have a mother of a cold and cough all night so I am not sleeping, my son is slowly getting over a cold of three weeks so far and my husband sounds like he is starting one.

I could go on forever but thanks for listening. We have five more weeks of this - 25 treatments. We are turning the Christmas counting calendar backwards and moving the candy cane away from 25 down to one! Tis the season....

Lynn,
I absolutely stand in awe of your strength and love. I wish I had the words. I do know, and can say, that I will have you all, especially your husband, in my prayers each night and in my thoughts during the days that follow.

May God hear all of our prayers and give you peace. Sending love,

Lynn, ditto what JJ said...

we may not always have the words to help, or know what to say, but know that your posts are read, that "virtual hugs" go out to hold you and prayers for strength and healing are always said....even if we just read your words, without responding...we read them....

Lynn,

I too stand in awe of your strength and love. I will join your boomer friends in praying for a miracle in your life at this very special time of year.

Jan

Lynn, thanks for sharing and please know you have every right to come here and unload. We are always here for you girl!

You are in my thoughts and prayers and I'm praying for you and your hubby and son often!

At times when you feel like you don't even know how to pray, please know we are carrying you in prayer Lynn. That's part of the beauty of the community of faith/believers.

I might be able to help with the nausea thing. I have to call my sister and ask her the name of the medicine they gave my mom before treatments. It helped tremendously. It was very pricey, but did the job.

We shopped pharmacies and found the Giant, CVS, RIte Aid and all the chains to be the MOST expensive. Believe it or not, we got the meds from a little local pharmacy who had a gem of a pharmacist.

I'll get back to you on the med thing.

NOw for the flu stuff. I was going to post this in another forum but since we're on the subject...I might be able to help you out there.

My son came home from college fairly sick today so we went to the pediatrician and here is what she suggested. I find it interesting because she is going the holistic health route which I think is promising for MD's. The only hitch was that none of it's covered by our insurance.

-Double the daily fluid intake
-Use Ibuprofen for aches and pains
-Lower the temp at home 68-69 during the day and 63-64 at night...brrrr (but bundle the little one)
-Use Zicam cold remedy nasal spray, full of antioxidants
-Use Elderberry tablets (it increases the immune system's ability to fight viruses
-Use Oscillococcinum homeopathic remedy as directed.
-Lots of sleep, rest, and TLC
Dr. Blotny, pediatrician.

My son is in bed with all of the above in his system. Can't wait to see how he feels tomorrow. I think he's going to be much better.

If this works for him, Lynn maybe it will work for you and your family.

Please give your letter writing little one a hug for me. I still want to see a picture of him.

Ladies, Lynn and I have something in common. We both have Korean adopted children.

God bless you Lynn.

I need to sound off about something. Please forgive me if I'm stepping on toes or repeating something ewveryone already knows.

I've had a light case of the "flu" and am pretty much recovered. I did not take the flu shot. I have never taken a flu shot.

My husband had a much worse case of the "flu". He took the flu shot.

Many of my friends have already had the "flu". Most took the flu shot.

Pretty much the same thing happens every year.

I learned more than I really wanted to know about the flu vaccine several years ago when I served as a member of a Task Force for the World Health Organization.

Most of the research is conducted by the people who benefit from the sale and administration of flu vaccine. Unbiased research, however, indicates that taking the flu shot may not only be a waste of time, but can lead to serious reactions.

The income to the pharmaceutical industry, doctors, and clinics from flu vaccination is astronomical. And they are usually the ones who are charged with reporting adverse effects, reporting ineffective immunizations and doing the research.

Although the vaccine changes each year, in the rush to get it to the public, clinical trials are often limited or omited entirely so we are acting as their guinea pigs. And the vaccine has been linked to serious neurological conditions including Guillain-Barre Syndrome and other autoimmune conditions. A surgeon who had suffered a reaction that permanently paralyzed his right arm testified before the task force and we learned of others who had been paid off by pharmaceutical companies with the stipulation that they not make public their stories.

Regularly reported, but less serious reactions including varying degrees of weakness or tingling in the legs spreading to the arms and upper body with self limiting paralysis are common.

The flu vaccine, for most people, is (1) Ineffective. The flu virus changes every year. The vaccine is developed from killed viruses from the previous year's outbreak thus it does nothing to immunize against the current year's virus. (2) It is Unnecessary. Most Healthy people can withstand a case of the flu without long term effects. Also most of the so called flu is actually one of the many rhinoviruses that circulate through the population each year, and (3) The vaccine is capable of causing serious neurological injuries.

I know we are all encouraged to take a flu shot every year and they are hyped on every news broadcast. I am no physician nor do I advise anyone to go against their doctor's advice. However, as I learn more about flu shots I am not only leery of them, I'm afraid.

smile

[ December 13, 2003, 11:37 AM: Message edited by: smilinize ]

Sorry. Wrong site. I thought I saw a health topic. Guess I'll start waking up efore posting.

smile

Lynn, I have a call into my sis. Will get back to you...promise.

Smilinize, the worse case of the flu I've ever seen was the year my husand got a flu shot.His doctor thought it was a good idea because he is in people's faces all day and he is a diabetic.

I remember driving him to the doctor while he was passed out in the passenger seat. He got sick at the doctor's office, was sweating like a pig, and so weak that if I could have carried him I would have.

I found your post very interesting because it's the first I've seen that side of the story. Thanks.....

Thanks guys I had tears in my eyes through the whole read. It feels good.

Smile---What is suggested for people that are health compromised instead of a vaccine? I have MS and my husband lost his spleen? Instead of avoiding the vaccine all together is there an alternative?

PS I have been down the homeopathic route for this and have had little to no sucess given the complications stated. Suggestions?

Lynn, I spoke with my sister and the name of the medicine for nausea is Zofran.

We seem to recall that Mom took 1 the before, or the day of her chemo treatment, and then for the next 3 days. One per day. It worked miracles for her.

Unfortunately the doctor didn't give it to her the first 2 treatments and then when he heard how sick she was and we questioned him about any possible medications to help, he came up with Zofran. Please have your hubby ask his doctor about it. I bet you could look it up online.

Also, when my mom was sick my youngest sister did a lots of homework online. She educated the doctor on a couple of the newest medications which we found to be surprising. She gave him the Websites where she found stuff and he would add them to his library.

Still praying for you all...and so happy to be doing it.

Hugs all around!

What's your little guy asking Santa for this year?

I loved the magic of Chrtistams when the kids still believed!

[ December 13, 2003, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Dotsie ]

Dotsie....what do you mean, STILL believe?

Lynn, my heart goes out to you and your husband. I'm sending positive thoughts for him.

When I was on chemo, my motto was "have little pink plastic barf pail, will travel." It's somewhat embarrassing and definitely not fun, but it's practical. If your husband has trouble holding down liquids -- I would throw up EVERY time I tried to drink water -- go for high water-content foods, like lettuce or watermelon. Whatever stays down. Also, he can ask for additional fluid drip when he gets his chemo infusion. No one told me about it until my last time in. My normal infusion time was 2 hours and the water drip was an extra hour, but it was worth it because I couldn't hold down drinking water at all.

Lynn,

I'm sorry, I have no alternative to avoiding the flu except avoiding anyone who has it. It is airborne and spread by human contact so anyone with a compromised immune system should stay away from large crowds and anyone with an infection. Sometimes the most contagious time is at the beginning of an infection, so it is important to be very vigilant. Actually an excellent place to catch the flu is the doctor's waiting room. Maybe you could call ahead and make arrangements to get your husband into a room quickly if the waiting room is crowded.

The measures prescribed by Dotsie's pediatrician would probably be helpful for anyone already exposed or infected. I copied them below.

-Double the daily fluid intake
-Use Ibuprofen for aches and pains
-Lower the temp at home 68-69 during the day and 63-64 at night...brrrr (but bundle the little one)
-Use Zicam cold remedy nasal spray, full of antioxidants
-Use Elderberry tablets (it increases the immune system's ability to fight viruses
-Use Oscillococcinum homeopathic remedy as directed.
-Lots of sleep, rest, and TLC
Dr. Blotny, pediatrician.

Echanacea and Golden Seal are additional natural products that I take. I believe they have some effect, but they are to be taken for only about 3 weeks at a time and they should be started prior to infection if possible. Also, they might interfere with some pharmaceutical medications so it would be best to check with the doctor first.

Dotsie also stated, "the only hitch was that none of it's covered by our insurance." Insurance reimursement is another incentive for physicians to prescribe over priced pharmaceuticals. That plus the fact that they get almost all of their pharmacological education from pharmaceutical companies both during med school and after they enter practice. It has been estimated that the pharmaceutical companies spend 80% of their budget on marketing to physicians which they do in the form of education. Until only recently when it was outlawed, they paid kickbacks to physicians for prescribing (or over prescribing) certain drugs.

Don't get me wrong, I believe pharmaceuticals can and do work miracles and I certainly wouldn't want to do without modern medicine. However, I think we as medical consumers, like Dotsie's sister, should educate ourselves about medications, their side effects and other dangers and go to the doctor armed with information and insist that they "listen" to us.

And, isn't the internet a wonderful tool for research.

Lynn, I'm still praying for you and your family. Prayer is the one thing that I know for sure works.

smile

Dear Lynn ~
I don't know you but I am praying for you and your family.
I'm sorry, I don't quite know what to say. I have plenty of thoughts on people who screw up their life subconciously but I just never know what to say or what to think when it's just "something", something that you had no say in, no control over. I'm sure it's difficult, beyond explanation, to endure what you're going through, all of you. I feel for you. I wish there was something, something I'd heard, something I've experienced, someone I know, who could tell me what to offer you that would help.

I can only tell you not to let your faith waver, stand strong, go through the motions and you'll come out on the other side gracefully and strong.

And I will pray for you, and your husband and your son.

Kate

Lynn,

Will be praying for you and your family. Wish I had words of wisdom but its just hang in
there.
Maggie

Thanks so much ladies! Each of you have helped just in wanting to.

Dotsie-John's doctor did prescribe him Zofran the second day of treatment. So we have it! But the doctor prescribed 60 pills and the pharmacy could only dispense 12 because the 60 were not approved by insurance. The cost was $2,000! I'll get a second mortgage if I have to!

The second treatment went better. And the week-end was ok. Back to treatment today. John has radiation every week day and is hooked up to a continuous feed pump for chemo. He wears it around his waist all the time even to bed. He could sit it on the night table but the cord would just get wrapped around him and probably choke him. His sheets are wrapped around him like a cocoon in the morning. He must just keep turning in his sleep. A latent mummy!

He is feeling sluggish and has the mettalic taste in his mouth. We can live with that!

He was in the dumps last night big time. Your support helped me help him. My words went no where but we just hugged and gathered strength there. He turns 60 next week - I just want him to turn 61!

Hope today's treatment has mild side effects. Every day is an adventure.

Thanks gals, you saw me through a hairy four days and I'm sure we will all do it again before it is over.

Dotsie- Nathan is a steam engine freak. Ever since he was one year old and his uncle gave him Thomas the Tank Engine-bingo it hit! We have all kinds of locomotives and catalogs around. I can't believe my kid takes catalogs to pre-school to show his friends. With some divine intervention, we hope to go to Durango, Colorado next May or June and ride the rails there. I hear (and we have a video) there is a stunning 2 hour steam engine ride into the canyons etc. Nathan is getting a Santa fe steam engine for his new train table that my husband built while recuperating from surgery. He and Nathan "work on it" almost constantly. Thanks for asking. And yes, he is jumping out of his skin in anticipation.

Lynn,
Our prayers will not stop. With God's mercy and love, we will ALL see John's 61st birthday and celebrate life with him. It's a date.

Now, tell me about this Conductor you have in the family. Is this a table that runs his engines and has houses and trees, villages, etc...and the train runs around the town?

Lynn, glad to hear about the Zofran. Has it made a difference?

I can just picture the two of you clinging to one another. Aren't you grateful for your strong relationship with your hubby right now? What a gift. Not everyone who is married is as happy as the two of you. I can just tell from past posts that you are connected at the heart.

Now tell us a little more about this train garden....

This is a train continent! It has taken up our playroom entirely. I insist that the couch stays but it is really in the way.

The train has one large tunnel that is made from chicken wire and plaster stuff. Rocks are being made from molds in my kitchen. So I have white dust all over the place. The rocks get plastered onto the tunnel to make mountains.

At the bottome of the mountain is the quarry with The Mill our friends have in Utah. The building is not made yet. Iam told all buildings will be made by hand. Nothing pre-bought. Whcih leaves me out completely. But I am told I can stick the trees on the mountains.

We also have a rail yard with warehouses (soon), lots of switches so the train can move from one track to another.

There will be a stream and a bridge going over it but it is not near completion. The whole thing is a work in progress that my two men do in their spare time.

So far, I think we will have Utah, a Kansas small town and a rail yard from I don't know where and a stream that will try to resemble Colorado. There will be a bit of the est coast also. They were trying for a sea side section but ran out fo room.

The table is 5 feet by 10 feet.

With whistles and all. From what I can tell, it is a dream come true. My husband's brother is in on the magic also. He ehlped build the table etc. and is feeding the frenzy by sending videos and puzzles of trains. We just finsihed 300 pieces and will start 1000 pieces tomorrow.

I don't know where we find time for hygiene around here! But it is good times! Thanks for asking.

And Dotsie psst"he is an engineer not a conductor".

If I can shrink myself down, I wanna go for a ride

Lynn,
My pappaw worked for Southern Railway for 50 years. Trains are near and dear to my heart. So are jigsaw puzzles. If you ever get the time, go to my site and read my article "From Griping to Gratitude." It was featured on Guidepost at one time. It is about jigsaw puzzles...and growing up.

Anyhoo...the Trainland sounds wonderful. I don't suppose you need anything from the South, do you? Like a miniature bale of cotton? If so, let me know! You know...it would be great if you did some pic's and let us view this playground! I would love to have something like that. I have a large, wooden playhouse I rescued that a man was going to throw it away. That is my project.