ER Room #6

It's pretty sad when I have to stop and think REALLY hard to figure out how many times we've been in the ER in the past 12 months... I think it's 6! I never thought I would be one of those people who have the ER "figured out" - a "regular." Pathetic! We were the family who had stale doctor's records that were so many years old that the doctors would not have recognized us had we not been family friends with them.

5:30 Saturday evening Tara calls in a panic( i was most definently not in a panic I was just trying to let you know we were leaving and had to speak louder than your happy anniversary song) because she's "seizing again" so we headed straight to the ER room - because now we know what to do. She had a seizure last November and I was REALLY looking forward to this November because it would've been Tara's one year mark without a seizure so then possibly she could get OFF the anti-seizure meds (The doctors never told her this...this was just dreaming...I know I will be on them for a long while), but oh well... anyway, Tara took 5 dilantin pills when the seizure started; which was probably good. Her arm was freaking out again; but her leg and her face also went numb somewhat. This lasted about 45 minutes, on and off, and then she (thankfully) completely recovered all her functions after that. But, because she HAD a seizure; she was pumped full of anti seizure meds in the ER room; which left her drunk and dizzy feeling until today. I had to talk pretty hard to get the Dr. Smith's resident to NOT admit her to the hospital - he had already decided to admit her to "watch her" and get an MRI; but after explaining it was her anniversary the next day AND she was already scheduled for an MRI + 3 doctors all on Tuesday; AND I reassured him we are seeing Dr. Smith almost on a weekly basis; he let us go home; saying he didn't want to ruin our weekend. Thank heavens! Josh was very awesome and planned a fun weekend for their one year anniversary; and thankfully did most of their celebrating on Friday and Saturday before the seizure. Tara even felt good on Friday and Saturday; which was a blessing. She had been so tired and plagued with headaches the week before that. Anyway, we were in and out of the ER in less than 7 hours which HAS to be a record for us! Tara walked in the ER faking (not faking...just dramatizing...I was in fact seizing) her arm shaking (so we could get seen faster) and then it REALLY started having a seizure again, so no faking was needed. We got a CT scan pretty quickly; and then finally finished the whole process by midnight. I spotted the Nazi Nurse again, and hid from her so we could all get in the ER room together. We had a "nice nurse" - a 20 something male nurse. We complimented him on how nice he was; and how great it was we could all be in the room together - how could he kick us out after that? So, Josh, Scott, Tara, and myself had our Saturday night date in the ER.

Sunday Tara was determined to go to church because Josh was speaking in church. She couldn't walk in or out of the meeting without assistance; so everyone was very worried about her. So - to all of you worried people, keep praying, but really, Tara was just "drunk" from all the meds. It was a heroic effort for her to get to church.

So, on to the GOOD NEWS. Today was MRI day, and we saw 3 doctors who all independently saw the MRI and all told us that it was a good scan - NO CHANGE. Nice, nice words! They didn't think there was fluid to worry about that the resident mentioned in the ER room. Just goes to show the residents really don't know as much as the docs. Dr. Shapiro explained why the resident thought there was fluid, but showed us why it wasn't a big deal. Tara decided (they all agree with me!!! Shapiro says I am cute every time we go in there) she was the "favorite patient" of all 3 doctors, ha! She and Dr. Smith are becoming a weekly date... he actually said we could wait 2 weeks to see him this time.. it was awesome to meet with Dr. Brachman again. He is the best at explaining things and really taking time to help. He addressed Tara's tiredness issues and we have some ideas to help with that.( He told me to drink a Coke... mom did not like that answer!!!) He said she really shouldn't get as much sleep as she's getting and we need to address that; so that was good to hear that from him.

We really don't know why Tara was having headaches last week - could be residual Temodar, could be healing and stretching from the healing of her head, or she could be just having headaches like a normal person. Heaven only knows. She starts Temodar tonight (chemo) so this could be a tired, rough week; but it brings us one round closer to finishing. Finish date is OCTOBER 4th. That is the date of the last round of Temodar; but of course, Tara, crazy woman (I am completely sane and just want to increase the likelyhood of an increased life expectancy!), wants more chemo - she wants to keep going til Christmas; so Dr. Shapiro will decide. I am taking the faith approach and I'm assuming that tumor is GONE (Josh says so too) and she should just finish chemo and move on with her life...but sometimes Tara gets scared. I try to tell myself that I'm not scared; and the majority of the time I am not. I felt very peaceful today during the MRI - I felt peaceful after my prayers this morning when I specifically prayed for peace...we are so blessed and the Lord is with us, I know that, He carries us when we can't carry ourselves. I hate to see my daughter drugged up and not herself; but I am happy the MRI was clean and we will move forward and things will be better tomorrow. She may actually make it to work tomorrow - we'll see! She is a trooper and was still smiling in the ER room Saturday and wasn't mad, sad, discouraged, or depressed, at least that I could see.( I got free graham crackers...how could I not be and they were the Honey Maid kind...not the gross Walmart brand)