May 13, 2022 Update - DAY 9

 Friday the 13th

Good ol' Friday the 13th.  The bringer of superstitious bad luck.  There are several differing beliefs as to why 13 is unlucky.  The Norse say that 12 gods were invited to dinner and Loki, the god of mischief, uninvited, showed up as the 13th guest creating chaos and mayhem. Christians believe it is linked last supper.  The list goes on.

When the nurse was writing the date on Jackie's daily board, I mentioned the fact that it was Friday the 13th.  The three of us acknowledged it with a tilt of the head, and the nurse made a joking comment about it.  Then, within seconds, a large crow flew into Jackie's window.  Now if that don't give you the heebie jeebies, I don't know what will.

Luck is a funny thing.  Without getting into a deep philosophical discussion, the concept of luck is different for everyone.  Is there such thing as good luck or bad luck, maybe a neutral luck?  I'm not sure.  I think luck, to a degree, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  Our situation and Jackie's condition is less than ideal, but is it bad luck?  We don't think so.  Bad things happen to everyone and a condition like this is completely out of our control.  Despite our situation or never winning the lottery or even one of those fancy cars at the mall, Jackie and I have always thought of ourselves as lucky.  We just happened to find each other when we were young, we have supportive families, we have the most amazing children, genuine friends, caring and supportive colleagues and employers, pretty good careers and really, we live in an area and a country free from atrocities we see around the world.  It is important to keep this perspective, as this is what motivates and propels us forward to tackle life's challenges.

"OK Mike, we get it.  Luck is perspective, keep your glass half full, got it.  But what the heck is going on with that lovely bride of yours?".  Alright, alright, here we go.

As described in the last post, Jackie's platelets and hemoglobin have been low.  Despite the unit of cells on Wednesday (DAY 7), her platelet count only increased marginally. Yesterday morning her platelets were at 11, but  for those of you who really know Jackie, you also know she likes to complicate things.  She developed a few minor nose bleeds during the night that didn't last too long, but developed another one that started around 830 and lasted well into the night and even trickled a bit today.  As we all know from our biology lesson the other day, platelets are needed for clotting.  

No platelets = No Clotting = Bleeding = Loss of Blood = No Hemoglobin

So you can imagine we had quite the day.  Jackie received another 2 units of platelets throughout the day as well as some other treatments and medication to control the bleeding.  In addition, it became obvious that Jackie has started experiencing the after effects of the chemo.  Her esophageal pain has increased to the point where eating, drinking and even swallowing pills has become a challenge.  They have been diligent in treating this pain and this afternoon, Jackie was given a self administered morphine pump.  Told you she was lucky.  This lets her control her own medication.  She can hit a button when she needs pain control and the pump will administer it to her directly through her central line.  It is not a free for all, regardless of how many times she does push the button, the pump will only administer a dose at most every 8 minutes.

Although there seems to be a lot going on, these treatment options are ensuring Jackie is as comfortable as possible.  So comfortable, she has been serenading us with NSYNC tunes. We have been told she is in the thick of it now, but she could be feeling better as early as Monday.

Question: Who has two thumbs and likes Morphine?

Yup, still this gal

Thanks for reading

Mike