It was just a bump...

We were in the ER last night from 10:30pm until just after 3am this morning.

Yesterday, Rob woke up and had a "bump" on his right forearm.  It was a little sore, and very tender.  He hadn't hit it on anything, just woke up with it that way.

When I got home from work last night, it was redder than I remembered from the morning.  And still very tender.  So I put my nose in my papers on the chemo drugs, and the pages told us to call Rob's doc if he had swelling in one arm or one leg.  So we called...

We were told to get to the ER.  We did.  There were initial words of blood clots, or the phlebitis acting up after the initial chemo treatment where it damaged his veins in the same arm.  And after more than four hours we were told things we hadn't even considered.

Rob had MORE blood work done and he's still anemic with low red counts, which explained why he kept bleeding when they put in the IV to get the blood work.  Surprise.  He also had an x-ray which showed "cortical lucency" of some sort.  And the doppler ultrasound showed a blood clot in a superficial vein, so no worry about heart attacks or strokes.

So here is what we were told by the ER doctor:
Something showed up on the x-ray in the bone that is unexplained and needs further study.  She said she spoke with the on-call oncologist, and it's likely with Rob's history, that the cancer spread to the bone in his arm, which would cause the clot to form over that area.  We were told to get in to see his oncologist today.  So we did.

Waiting to see Dr. B today...
♥

She, Dr. B, was upset that the ER doctor told us that.  She agreed that it is a possibility, but that it could also be an infection (though he's running no fever and his white counts are great).  But he also has some red 'dots' on his forehead that could be a sign of infection, too.  So Rob is on antibiotics for a week, he's having an MRI at 9:20pm Friday (they're soonest opening), and we will see Dr. B again next Tuesday morning to see what's really going on.


Needless to say, Rob is upset.  Upset at the possibility that even with all the poisons he's being pumped full of, the beast can survive.  That even with all the suffering, all the non-stop nausea, the weakness, the fact that he's sleeping most of the time, it's just not enough.

I am trying to comfort him, trying to let him know that we don't know right now anything other than he has a sore bump on his arm.  We have to take one day at a time.  Even between the anger and the tears.  Just each day for what it is.  A new day.

He has decided that he will not get MORE chemo added to this walk he's on.  And he will NOT get radiation.  If the beast is fighting back, he's going to try more holistic approaches first.  He's just so sick of being so sick.

Please pray for peace for Rob, and for wisdom, and for the voice of God to be clear to him.

So much more is going on right now, but I am so tired.  So I will save our stories of the homefront, wherever that may be, for a later time.  I have to be to work just before 7:30am, and I'm running on only three hours sleep since I woke up on Monday morning.  *sigh* and *yawn*  :D  (Big grin!)

Okay...  Good night dear ones.  You keep us both lifted and give us strength for each day.  There are not enough words in all the world to thank you in the way we want to thank you.

Sweet, blessed dreams to you all.

In Love and In Peace,

Cheri ♥