BUMPED AGAIN SUNDAY
bumped - Linda reports in
bumped - Linda reports in
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Sunday, August 17, 2008
Linda SO.G Update
12 comments:
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Thud said...
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great news.
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8/15/08, 11:30 AM
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Anonymous said...
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LOL you are da' bestest in all the land.
Linda is a good patient heh heh, but there is that long line of interns wanting to know her name.
LOVE ya Rodger!! -
8/15/08, 12:48 PM
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DammitWomann said...
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Rodge - your photos and photo-shop skills are top-of-the-line. I get such a kick out of reading and seeing your posts.
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8/15/08, 2:47 PM
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Rodger the Real King of France said...
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Why thank you, dammit.
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8/15/08, 3:19 PM
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Anonymous said...
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La la land indeed.
Yesterday was amazing.
The early part went pretty much as planned. I arrived on time, they checked me in on time, and I got to use all my stardard hospital jokes on a fresh new audience.
When the nurse asked me if I had any allergies, I said, "only one, Gamma Knife" ha ha. and if I had a preference for which arm to put the IV, I said, yes I did, he said which one, and I said, "yours!" ha ha ha, bada boom.
And... that's when he doped me up.
Funny thing about that, they had to give me a bit more dope than originally planned. The nurse told me later that although I appeared to be asleep, "those big blue eyes would not close." It seemd that my eyes followed every move he made but I was completely unresponsive to every question he asked. I just stared him down and made him nervous so finally he just doped me more until I closed my eyes and then he got the screws in okay. When he told me about it later, I said, "Yeah, well, I was trying to figure out why you didn't laugh at my jokes. You shouldda laughed!"
Speaking of screws, yeah, they weren’t so tiny after all, pen points, no, more like sharpie markers, and under the hairline, no, try top of the forehead, just below the hairline. When I saw them coming out, I about had a heart attack and covered up my shock with a Bob Vila joke that didn't go over very well with the head nurse but at least the junior nurses had fun with it. Oh well.
I don't know what the two holes in back look like since those are actually in the hair, but there are two holes on the top of my forehead. The hair covers them, they’re already healing and believe it not, they don’t hurt. None of the holes hurt.
They don’t hurt because the entire top and back of my head is numb, and according to the paperwork, its gonna stay that way, the back of the head for 3 or 4 weeks and the top for a little less, and that, my friends, is one funky feeling.
Out around noon turned out to be out around 1:45. 25 minutes of zapping turned into 45 minutes of zapping. They didn’t say, but I think it was because the 25 minute estimate was based on the July 3 MRI and by August 14, the tumor might have had gotten a little bigger.
I was completely exhausted when I got home and starving. I was mildly queasy though, ate a little, and had to lie down, ate some more, then back to bed. Finally fell asleep and that was that.
It’s done, it didn’t hurt, no real side effects. I’m on some heavy duty steroids to reduce swelling and tylenol to keep my temp down, gotta check that periodically because they really heated my brain up with all that radiation. Every once in a while the heat seems to rise up and it feels like an oven back there. I went to work today, its back to life as usual but I left a little early.
Its going to take about three months for the radiation to do its job. I’ll have an MRI then to see and hopefully there will be nothing to see and Dr. Aizik Wolf will live up to his name.
Aizik in Yiddish means “He shall laugh” and so will I if the tumor is gone. Laughing sure beats crying any day of the week.
Now, the hard stuff.
Going through these things is difficult enough without having to worry about money, I was scared enough without worrying about how I was going to pay for it, so I just did it, and in true Scarlett O’Hara tradition, I did it and thought, well, I won’t think about that now. I’ll think about that tomorrow.
I’ve paid quite a bit already, and borrowed some from the boss which I can pay out over time without interest, bless his heart. I’m expecting other bills to be rolling in over the next month. I’ll be tightening the belt as tight as I can, and plan to just plow through it to the other side.
Over the past months, you have all given me so much of yourselves, in words, and prayers, thoughts, hope, encouragment, messages, phone calls, and love, and support, it was enough, more than enough, more than I deserve and more than I can ever thank you properly for.
And now, I understand that the Barn Army has passed around the collection hat and gone above and beyond the call of duty to help me even more. I am overwhelmed.
I can never thank all of you enough for what you all have done for me.
I am so very grateful.
In the middle of all this, I received a message from a dear dear friend that said "I always wonder why bad things happen to good people." And in reply I said something like, "Maybe this happened so that I could know how very much I am loved, and if that’s true, then this tumor is worth it, it is a gift from G-d and one that I cannot help but be grateful for."
I mean those words. Thank you, all of you, for being part of G-d’s gift to me.
Linda -
8/15/08, 6:08 PM
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Rodger the Real King of France said...
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Your sense of humor is certainly in tact. Clap Calp Clap! And good on you Linda.
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8/15/08, 7:24 PM
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Rodger the Real King of France said...
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Also, it was SondraK who got this ball rolling.
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8/15/08, 7:51 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Glad all went well! Glad to hear it. I have a bit of fun of my own coming next month: both knees getting replaced. Gads!
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8/15/08, 11:13 PM
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Rodger the Real King of France said...
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Chin up grizzley - everyone I know who's had it done is dancing on the table now.
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8/15/08, 11:16 PM
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Anonymous said...
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Well spoken, Linda, I'm glad you're out of that in what appears to be fine fettle. I've had my own recent travails with the medical system, and it's amazing just how good they are. We truly live in amazing times.
Aizik -
8/16/08, 11:50 AM
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Juice said...
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Linda,
So glad you fared well and have such an awesome perspective. It is often in the face of our troubles or those of others we are most likely to count our Blessings. You obviously are one courageous and blessed lady.
Peace to you,
Juice -
8/16/08, 1:46 PM
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Rodger the Real King of France said...
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SondraK's keeping track of the totals, but I know we're over $1000. You guys are great! USA!
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8/17/08, 11:09 AM
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