Hello again! Today is Thanksgiving and I hope everyone is having a wonderful Turkey Day. I am so grateful that I am not in the hospital yet and able to enjoy this holiday with my family and friends. Here is the latest recap of this week. Monday I went to Richmond and had some blood work done. I was suppose to have surgery in the morning for placement of my apheresis catheter. My blood work came back that I had no platelets. Platelets are part of your immune system that help your blood coagulate. By having no platelets, a simple bruise could make me bleed to death internally. I need to live in padded world with no sharp edges. Because I had no platelets, my surgery was postponed until I received a platelet transfusion. So I got 2 units of platelets. Platelets look like the yellow stuff that comes out when people have lipo. It is definitely not appetizing, but neither is blood.
It took a couple of hours and then I was cleared to go into surgery. This surgery normally takes between 20 minutes to 1 hour. My surgery took 2 hours and it was one of the most awful things that I have been through. I was given conscience sedation which was supposed to relax me and put me out, but it didn’t. I was awake the whole time and felt just about everything. They gave me 9 shots of lidocaine to help numb me, but it wasn’t enough. I started crying and kept crying until they brought me back to the recovery room. The radiology staff was completely unsympathetic and not accommodating to my needs. I kept telling them that I was awake and could feel everything, but they told me because I had received chemo that my body had developed a tolerance to conscience sedation.
Sexy Tubes
Tolerance or not, give me something to knock me the hell out! I really felt out of control and felt like I was a specimen and not a human being. If there is anything that I have learned from this experience is that I will never tolerate any additional pain. Next time I will demand that they either stop and have my surgery rescheduled until they can put me under completely. Like I said before, I felt completely out of control and it didn’t matter what my needs were at the time. Never again ladies and gentlemen. Lesson learned.
So after my butchering session, I ended up with two tubes hanging out of my chest. These tubes will be used to draw blood and take out my stems cells. I look hot! I am totally bringing sexy back! Check out the pictures of my platelets and my new look. On a more positive thought, the results of my PET scan look good and everything will proceed as planned. I have a break today and will not be going to Richmond, but I will be going on Friday. I will continue to keep everyone informed. Again, thank you for all of your comments and texts. You are all wonderful.
Love always,
Geraldine
Friends of Geraldine 
Hello Geraldine,
Well, these tubes certainly do give you something that most women don’t have! Wonder when the fashion world will pick up on the new look? What are the options for color coordination? They did not get the blue one to match your eyes — need to work on that! I am pleasantly surprised that you feel well enough to joke about the whole thing.
I am sorry to hear that getting to this point was more of an ordeal than it needed to be. It is possible that the staff people really don’t understand. A colleague at work told me of a nurse she dealt with who confessed that she used to put down patients’ complaints — until she herself was a patient. It was an awakening for her.
It is very encouraging to hear that the PET scan results are good. As this is written, you are probably in Richmond for the next part. I’ll be with you in heart. All of us out here in web land are rooting for you. You have come a long way, and you will make it!
Love,
Harvey
Hi Love – I’m wondering how your counts are today (Friday). It seems like many moons have passed since Monday. I’m so glad you were home with your family yesterday.
I love you – Allie
You amaze me daily! You are the strongest women I know! I would be happy to jack up whomever I need to for you! No one hurts my Giga 🙂 Brinding Sexy back? It never left you!
Can’t wait to hear how things went yesterday!
Love ya ALWAYS!
Mare
Hello Geraldine.
It is so nice to hear that you have spent a lovely Thanksgiving among your loved ones!
The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around…. Throughout history, “tender loving care” has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing.
Bon courage!
G-Bug,
I was thinking a lot about you last week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because our family always gets together, now matter where we are. I was hoping that you would be able to enjoy it with your family. It sounds like you were able to have one day at least. I am thankful that you are getting close to your stem cell therapy and hope everyday that it gets better for you.
Stay strong, I can only imagine how difficult this is for you, but I know you can do it. We are here for you. Scooby and Sasha send you well wishes and lots of meows :-).
Lots of Love,
PPU