I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
Tattle Tale Mom
Last night EJ brought home a fun hat that one of his work friends had made for JJ. It was bright orange, funky, and very soft so it feels good on his head. It made him look like he had orange hair. JJ loves it.
For some reason I couldn’t sleep last night. I wasn’t anxious or anything, I just couldn’t sleep. I hate when sleepless hour follows sleepless hour. But I functioned ok today.
We drove to the Cancer Center today for JJ’s appointment with his oncologist. JJ has a weekly blood test but apparently we were supposed to also have a monthly test as well. The lab didn’t do it, and we handed over the forms we were given without realizing that one was weekly and one monthly. It’s the monthly tests which checked the cancer markers in JJ’s blood. He will have the weekly and monthly tests done tomorrow, but we didn’t have the results today.
I’m sort of a tattle-tale Mom. If JJ doesn’t tell the medical staff about health issues he is struggling with then I tell them–no matter how minor they seem because do not really know if a minor issue is really a major one. Sometimes JJ is not particularly happy with me after I’ve tattled on him. Today JJ wasn’t going to tell the nurse or doctor about an issue he is having. He just kept saying it wasn’t really a big deal and it was getting better. However, I strongly suspected that he said that only because he didn’t want to be examined. So I tattled on him and the doctor took it seriously and examined him, and now JJ has yet another thing he has to do at home to prevent bacteria from entering a sore. JJ did tell me afterwards that although I sometimes exasperate him when I tattle on him, he does think I am right to do so. Duh. Of course I am right. He should listen to me more often.
The doctor wanted JJ to have a Pulmonary Function Test before he starts his next cycle of Chemo to make sure his lungs are ok because Chemo can affect his lungs and breathing. Pulmonary Function Tests are a group of tests that measure how well the lungs take in and release air and how well they move gases such as oxygen from the atmosphere into the body’s circulation. The doctor scheduled the test for 11:30 a.m. today, which meant we had an hour to wait, so we decided to go to the hospital cafeteria to eat while we waited. We had just entered the cafeteria when I got a call from the department that does the PFTs, and we were told that they could get JJ in immediately. So we went to the patient registration desk instead of the cafeteria.
Only one of us could go with JJ. Since EJ had gone with JJ for is last PFT, I went with him this time. I began to think it was a mistake for me to go when the woman who did the test led us down a hall, on an elevator, down another hall, to the room where the test was done. I am severely directionally challenged, which means I can get lost anywhere, so I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find my way back to the lobby. I was concerned even though, after the test, the woman gave me directions on how to get to the lobby. I was very thankful when a hospital employee entering an elevator as we walked past asked us if we were going to the main floor. We said yes, so she invited us to share her elevator, and then she pointed us down the right hall. She was truly an angel.
But back to the test: JJ had to sit in a glass chamber, which I thought looked like something from a science fiction move–like a stasis chamber or something. Adding to the sci-fi look, JJ happened to be wearing his Star Trek shirt today.
In the chamber, JJ had to breathe into a tube several times, sometimes holding his breath for long seconds. The test took about 10 minutes. Then we found our way back to EJ.
All of our shoes are wearing out so last night I did some research on the location of shoe stores in the city and their products. After we left the hospital, EJ drove us to the shoe store I had selected, and we all tried on shoes until we found the ones we liked best. We each got a pair of shoes, and EJ got two pairs because his shoes were part of a “Buy One, Get Second Pair Half Off” sale.
Finally we got home, ate a quickly lunch, and then EJ had to rush off to work. I will do a few chores and then I WANT TO TAKE A NAP! If I can, that is.
I Love To Go A Gardening 
Dear Teri EJ an JJ you have for sure a let’s say “full” life in this troubled times. And I do hope that the outcome of the tests will be good to continue the chemo. And that in the blood test again is clear that it is really helping to reduce the cancer to nothing. I’ll pray daily for you all. Love you (((hugs))))) ❤
LikeLike