I'm Home!!! :)

I got to come home today!!!! :) :) I was discharged in the morning. Fortunately, the doctor came by very early, so it all happened before noon. But then I still had my doctor's appt over at the clinic, as was previously arranged. But we were able to head for home around 3pm. It was great to be home and see my kiddos!! :) And I actually got Aria to smile at me for the very first time!!!

As for my xrays (taken at 4am....grrr...), they showed no progression of the cancer in my bones - so that was a great relief!! There was a fear at the beginning of the weekend that the increased pain could have been from disease progression. Thank God that nothing was noticed on the xrays! However, this wasn't the most precise way of discovering that information...and that won't truly be known until they redo the other scans (CT scans, bone scan) in another 2 months. (Those scans will be done once every 3 months.) But any potential progression wasn't significant enough to have shown up in the xrays. And any bone loss due to cancer was less than my nurse practitioner would have expected. She seemed very pleased! And the other good news was that there wasn't any new fracture in the painful areas, which was another fear.

Amazingly, this new drug has really been keeping me out of pain!!! I've just had some minor pain since Saturday in my lower back (really, it's in my sitting area, if you want to be precise ;) ). That is one of the main areas where I usually feel pain, in addition to down my legs, which is caused by 2 pinched nerves in the lower back. And of course, my left arm is the other main area of pain. I was able to elevate my left arm by a couple inches today!

It took quite awhile to go over my prescription changes with a doctor and then with the floor nurse this morning before being discharged. Then I had 5 prescriptions to fill. Back at home, I revised the spreadsheet on my computer that shows when I take everything during the day - but now it has become more complicated! I now have drugs to take 4 times per day instead of 3 times per day. And there are certain things that can't be taken together. It's quite an analytical puzzle to figure out when to take each thing during the day. And now I need to stay up until midnight to get my final doses...so that's in a few minutes, and then I can go off to bed!

I slept fabulously for the 2nd night in a row!!!! So I hope that my sleep will be just as good now that I'm back at home!!! :) I can't believe how well I slept at the hospital!!! 11 hours on Sat night and 10 hours on Sun night!!! Wow!!!

I walked through the clinic to get to my appointment this afternoon, and then everyone who saw me raved about how I looked!! They all said I looked sooo great!!!! :) :) They were so impressed with how I was doing!!!! :) :) One nurse often refers to how awful I looked the first day I ever came there. They were all concerned. Another nurse had seen me in the waiting area and had taken me back to a bed because I looked so terrible! So I've been repeatedly complimented on my improved color and appearance -- but especially today!! :) And they were so happy to see me walking!! I had a limp and was kind of slow -- but I was walking!!! :)

So now I'm home! And Aria's finally home after months and months of prayer!!!! And we expect to have a fabulous Thanksgiving this week!!!! There's a lot to celebrate. :)