2 weeks ago, mom started her chemo. She was so scared going in, it was heartbreaking. Then she went home and all seemed well the first few days. She was tired, achy - but certainly nothing she couldn't handle. We all got a little hope that *she* may be one of the few that have little chemo ickiness....then day 6 hit. I watched my mom stumble across the kitchen into my arms and before Khaled could run down the stairs, the vomiting hit. It was so so scary to see, and so hard to see her like that. Khaled and I slept in the hallway upstairs in case she needed us overnight...but she said later that she got sick in the bathroom without calling us....typical!
The next day was President's Day and we all had the day off....I took her to the movies to get her mind off things and the day was going pretty well.....but then as we walked into Circuit City...boom! the dizziness and vomiting hit again - completely without notice. Luckily I spared her any further blows to her ego by finding a bunch of clean plastic bags to be sick in....the rest of the day she just kept wondering what the people in the store were thinking....
The next day, Tuesday, I came home from work and found her resting on the sofa. I took her temperature, because more than anything, the doctor warned us about *any* kind of fever she might get. Sure enough, she DID have a fever, AND she had taken tylenol because she was shaking earlier...oh man...she didn't bother to tell me....and when I called the Dr. he said she must go the ER. After 5 long hours, they decided she must be admitted because her white blood count went from a normal of around 1700 to 500! This triggered the nurse and doctor to wear masks, and bring them in for me and Yahya too....Her fever was due to some infection she caught with her compromised immune system and they wouldn't release her until her blood count was up and her fever was gone.
She was in the hospital for 8 days! Her blood count was going up very slowly...and as long as she had a fever, they wouldn't discharge her - with a low WBC her body wasn't fighting it. On Thursday I woke up with a horrible cold/flu, whatever it was, I couldn't go visit her because of it. Yahya, Peri and Khaled made daily visits. Ameera spent most of the days there as well. After a couple of days, mom asked the nurse if Ameera can stay with her and the nurse agreed. Ameera was sooo happy, and for mom it made her feel much better that Ameera was with her. On the 2nd night, at 11:30 a nurse called our house and talked to Khaled. I was completely out because of the cold medicine and didn't even hear the phone. Apparently, she insisted that he come pick up Ameera immediately. Khaled went, thinking that they had told mom and Ameera. But when he walked into the room, mom was sleeping and Ameera had no idea. The nurse was extremely rude and threatened to call security if Ameera didn't leave! That entire incident shattered what little peace of mind mom had. Seeing Ameera get her heart broken like that made her so sad, and put her on the warpath. We filed complaints with the hospital, and the director and the nursing supervisor both apologized profusely. They said that the nurse should have never did what she did...None of us had a problem if they preferred Ameera not to sleep at the hospital - but the way it was done was completely unacceptable!
So yesterday alhamdulillah, mom came home....unfortunately when she woke up at the hospital, she noticed her hair had started falling out badly...by the time she was at home the hair was everywhere. She was emotionally having a really hard time with it....and making it worse was that she knew Ameera would take it badly as well. Later in the evening she asked me to shave her head for her. That was definitely not a fun experience for me....but it's probably better that she not see all the hair falling out. I had her cover her hair without seeing it...and we didn't tell the kids or Ameera. I guess this morning she told Ameera and she took it pretty badly..making it hard for mom too. It is a rough emotional ride for all of us.....
Today is Thursday and her next chemo session is Tuesday.....I just pray that the next few months go by quickly.
