Let's get some shirts going!

Alright, thanks to the team at Xtreme Wear (http://www.xtremewear.com/), we have some rockin' cool shirts that we can order to help support Meghan.  The design is below and we are going to be getting the Sapphire version.  You want one? I'll get to the details on how to get them below.

First, let's talk about the origins of the design.

The colors for Colorectal Cancer are brown and blue.  What kind of twisted moron would pick brown?  For obvious reasons, we went with blue.

The front is a nod to the fact that Meghan had a small team of us attending all of her first appointments.  When I say team, I mean, "hey, can we get some extra chairs in this office so everyone can sit down?".  We joked that we should get shirts so they could keep track of us.  Also, I think anyone that has survived cancer would agree, it takes a team to manage everything.  Meg carries the heavy burden, but we do our best to keep her focused on getting and staying healthy.  Since Matt has been back, she hasn't been asking for much though, so either he is doing a hell of a job, or she is taking on some of the administrative tasks.  We are going to get Captain/Co-Captain printed on Meg and Matt's shirts, but the rest will just say Team Meghan.

The back is a design that Jill found for Meghan.  The purple in the anchor is just to keep it a little feminine for her.  It represents keeping Meghan grounded.  The white infinity represents forever being free and pure of Cancer.  That is what we are hoping for right?  The quote is something Meghan found that tied it together really well.  Rumors are that this symbol will find its way on Meghan's body in the form of a tattoo someday.

The actual shirt that I am suggesting is a 50/50 Poly/Cotton blend that should wear a little lighter and more comfy than a basic cotton t-shirt and doesn't add cost (http://www.companycasuals.com/xtremewear1/b.jsp?id=126941).  If there is some reason you would like something different such as material, sleeve length, kids, women's, etc. I imagine they can accommodate us, but the cost will change some.  It will be a little bit of a hassle to do that, so hopefully we don't get too many special requests.

So how do you get one?

Send an email to my wife, Trisha Fitch, at trishap@hotmail.com.  Do me a favor and put Team Meghan in the subject line.  That was we can set up a rule to direct all orders into a special folder in her Inbox.  Standard sizes are S-3XL (mens).  The cost will be $15, which will cover setup charge and shipping as well (we'll all share that cost to make it easier).  If there is a couple bucks left over after this is said and done, we'll give it to Meg and Matt for fundraising.

**UPDATE** We are also going to be able to kids' sizes.  I am contacting Xtreme to figure out what our options are.

Don't send money yet, but go ahead and send your name, size, and address (if we are going to have to ship them).  We are going to start setting up a spreadsheet and also maybe a Paypal account to help coordinate the payments as much as possible.  We'll collect before we actually order.  Since there is no money to be made here, just getting one shirt that isn't paid for will actually come out of Meghan's pockets (actually probably mine and Trish's, but it sounds a little worse if we say Meghan).  We'll try to be as efficient and quick as possible so folks don't have their money tied up (reason we don't want money yet).

We are thinking about buying the same (or similar and cheaper) shirts down the line as a fundraiser.  It is one of the least profitable methods of making money though, so that may not happen.

-Kalen

Checking in

In case some folks are wondering, Meg had good bloodwork Monday so she started her second dose of chemo.

Matt and Meg made it back to Ridgway last week because they had an appt in Pittsburgh. It was great to visit with both of them, and I think Meg got the help she was looking for from the doctor.

They are in their own in Annapolis. Married life is starting!

Bust Meg's chops in the comments for not keeping this updated!

-Kalen

Love from Fox Township and Bennets Valley :)

Just wanted to post this quick pic to show the awesome blanket the faculty from Fox Township and BV made for me. I'm not one to love posting pics of myself, but the kick ass blanket in this one warranted a pic that you all needed to see. Hope all is well with everyone!

A quote I saw the other day that's sticking with me lately
"The storms of our life, prove the strength of our anchor"

Isn't that the truth? Thank you all for being part of my anchor..

Going home..I think..

I think the time is here for me to go home and let Meg and Matt get on with the joys of married life finally. I can't wait to see how they get through the newlywed phase to really becoming a family of their own! fun fun as all old married people know. LOL! I do think they will be fine though. And yes I am slightly worried but that is what happens when your children start any new phase in their lives.
I am not as worried now as I was because Meg has finally connected up with 2 great people that have been through this situation and survived and are doing well. One is a girl that her Dad?brother? (not sure which) hooked her up with and the other is through an ostomy support group down here. Already they have answered quite a few questions and helped solve some problems that we were having. I hope down the road that we could be a good resource to someone who is just starting out.
As for Meg and Matt they are doing good and getting adjusted. Meg did fine with her 1st chemo treatment and is getting ready for the second one. I hope it goes as well. She is eating like a horse and is continuing to gain weight, staying hydrated and actually recuperating from all the major and minor procedures we have been through lately.
I am hoping as she developes her relationship with others that have/have had these situations she will learn more tips for enjoying life as she goes through it. Already she has learned that she can def. expand her diet (yah..she is so sick of trying to eat junk food to maintain weight) and that the amount of gatorade can be decerased quite a bit. That in itself will help with finances and variety in her liquids. Even found out she CAN have some coffee and a glass of wine/beer every so often. So on the issue of living and ENJOYING life things are looking better. I hope she will pass all new info she is learning on so that if any one out with an ileostomy can benefit.
Keep it in your prayers that things will continue to go well after I leave...I know there will be some bumps but I also know they have to fly with their own wings to find their own mountaintops.

Quick Update!

Hey hey.. I promise to keep this one shorter than my last post. In part to maintain the sanity of all the readers, and also because sooner or later this "fatigue" side effect is catching up with me. lol. I can't see any more fitting way to begin this entry other than to say thank you. The prayers, thoughts, and acts of kindness have been tremendous. I have already told so many people today that it simply amazes me how quickly our town, which appears so small, can truly draw together and make such an amazing impact. I know my family continues to tell me there are requests made daily to see how you all can help. There are thoughts for a fundraiser in the works, and I am sure we will all communicate those to you all once we have some more concrete details to see if anyone would be interested in volunteering in anyway. In addition to our town of Ridgway pulling together, I also have to give kudos to the support we are receiving from our family and friends in Indiana. Matt's dad came in for the weekend, and certainly did his part in my recovery by fattening me up with gaucamole, lobster bisque, and delectable lemon cake. lol. By the time he left, he had me back up to 124! I never thought I'd see the day where I was bragging about gaining weight, let alone broadcasting it on the internet, however, it's quite an accomplishment from where I was at 110, and there will be a day that I won't be able to eat all those yummy things without feeling guilty, so I will relish in it for now. hah.

Next, I am so glad Kalen updated you all on what truly has been going on behind the scenes lately. Up until this point I have been very guarded about what has been known. However, after seeing all the love and support that has come pouring out from you all, I have realized we cannot receive the help you are all so willing to offer unless we open up and allow it. In addition to that, I know what a foreign concept this disease was to my family and I, and what difficulties we had finding answers on it, that I have decided if I can do anything to help another person, young or old, in my situation at all, I would like to embrace it whole heartedly, and that too requires me being open. If after reading his update, you have any questions- please feel free to ask. We usually do pretty good getting back to people, at least in a few days. :)

I started my first round of chemo treatments on Monday. What it basically consists of is sitting in a chair at Johns Hopkins for two hours hooked up to a pump- then after that I am hooked up to an IV that I take home with a very fashionable fanny pack (hence the sarcasm...lol) that continues to give me medicine for another 46 hours, and then a home health nurse comes in and unhooks me, and I am pumps/IVs/etc. free for about another 12 days! So far, so good with the first treatment.. I haven't (knock on wood) experienced any MAJOR side effects yet- so we are hoping that keeps up. One down, eleven more to go! Which leads me into my other major news. Yesterday Matt and I went out and about grocery shopping (quite a feat even on a good day..let alone a day carting a pump around as well..lol) and came home to a package on the front porch! Yes, I am completely like a little kid, packages still excite me, especially when they are packages that don't contain medical supplies! This particular package was from a group of ladies, and a few men (Andy and Bussard, I'm sure you were involved as well.lol) that hold a very fond place in my heart. Fox Township and Bennets Valley Elementary pulled together to send Matt and I a care package, and a very generous donation to help off set the costs we are incurring. But the most important part of the package was a home made chemo blanket!! This hit right at my heart, because on Monday, I was telling everyone how nice it would be to have my own blanket/pillow to take with me, to make the whole experience a little less "cold/clinical" and a little more of my own environment. Way to read my mind Fox and BV. I will have to upload a pic soon... it's amazingly comfy, and of course very chic! :) Many thanks to you all..you are all amazing.

Finally..I have to give some credit to my husband. I have not been much help in the kitchen lately, and he has completely picked up the slack, making amazing meals (even salmon on the grill on Monday!) as well as bringing me home flowers, and just in general, being patient and  putting up with me. It is such a blessing to have an amazing husband as part of my support team as well.

This should be a big weekend! I am hoping to continue feeling well, and my step-dad Jim, as well as my brother Kaleb are coming to visit. I can't wait, missing them both and it'll be good to see their faces again! Not to mention Matt will finally get his truck that he has been waiting for..you know boys and their toys, gotta have them. lol Also, it is mom's birthday, so we are hoping to cook a good dinner for everyone and enjoy some good company, and get away from all this "mess" for awhile.

As always, thank you for the continued love, support and prayers. Hope everyone has a great day!

Meghan

Can we get some actual details?

I attended a couple parties this weekend and came to the realization there is a lot of misinformation about Meghan’s current diagnosis/prognosis.  Meg and I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some time and show a high level view of what has occurred thus far, specifically, why is Meghan in the Baltimore area?

Here is the timeline since early May.

Early May 2012 - FAP Diagnosis in Dubois

May 2012 - Tests, Scans, and Surgery Prep

6/16/12 - Married to Matt, short Honeymoon in the Poconos

6/28/12 - Colectomy and ileostomy at UPMC Passavant

7/5/12 – Cancer diagnosis and staging

7/6/12 – Matt heads back to Afghanistan and Meg is discharged from UPMC

7/16/12 – ER visit and hospital stay for dehydration in Dubois

7/18/12 – Meetings with oncologists at UPMC

7/20/12 – Diagnosed with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. 

7/23/12 – Second opinion meetings with Johns Hopkins teams

7/23/12 – Meetings with IVF Clinic

7/27/12 – Move down to Annapolis, begin hormone treatments for IVF

8/3/12 – Matt returns back to Baltimore from Afghanistan, in time for egg fertilization

8/8/12 – Port placement completed at Johns Hopkins

8/10/12 – Egg harvesting completed

8/13/12 – First day of chemotherapy (FOLFOX) starts at Johns Hopkins

1/21/13 – Chemo end date (hopefully)

So here is the deal.  Meg has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Colorectal Cancer.  They were hoping that everything was contained in her colon when they took it out, but out of 80 lymph nodes removed with the colon, 16 were positive.  The good news is that cancer had not spread into the margins of tissue that were removed in the surgery.  Cancer has not shown up on the scans, but knowing it is in the lymph system buys Meghan a ticket for chemotherapy.  Dr. Azad always says "buys her a ticket" like she is jumping on a carnival ride, not sure that is the best choice of words.  

The standard FOLFOX regimen for fighting colorectal cancer is actually pretty well tolerated.  It won’t make Meg noticeably lose her hair, but there are side effects.  One that isn’t immediate but there, is the potential for the Oxyplatin to affect her ovaries and egg production following treatment.  To mitigate that risk, Meg had eggs harvested before chemo started.  She was hoping for a lot more than what she got, but some are better than none.  It just so happened that the timing worked perfect, because they wouldn't have delayed chemo to have that done.

She has about 6 months of chemotherapy ahead of her at Johns Hopkins.  Matt is going to be stationed in the immediate area there, so although she could have completed treatment at UPMC or even Dubois, she will likely stay in the Baltimore/Annopolis/DC area. 

Following chemotherapy, Meg will be a candidate to lose her ileostomy bag, referred to as a reversal.  It is a burden that she will be glad to shed.  That is a relatively easy surgery (compared to colectomy) but she will likely have to go through the whole process of starting on liquid diet and add new things slowly.  If she would run into problems with that procedure, which is possible, she has some other options which are better than her current situation. 

Most people wonder how Meg is handling all this.  It has been a hell of a couple months for Meg, but she has been handling it really well.  Some days she gets down and we have to remind ourselves how much she is processing in such a short period of time.  Before she started this journey, I would have wondered how she would handle any one of the circumstances she has faced, but she has surprised me.   

Another subject that most people don’t like to talk about is money.  How the hell can she afford all this?  First of all, by the grace of God, Meg and Matt decided to get married in a hurry not realizing what was out in front of them.  Based on that, Meg has been on his insurance.  I wanted to punch them both when they told me they were getting married so soon, but it was a reminder that God has a little better idea of what is going on than I do.  On the other hand, there is a lot of gas money, OTC medications, living expenses, IVF clinic expenses, etc. which are adding up.  We have kicked around the idea of a fundraiser, but Meg wants to know for sure she needs to ask for help before she does.  I can’t blame her.  Since she has been so busy over the past couple weeks, that has been put on the backburner, but I have offered to help her start a spreadsheet to organize her expenses.  Hopefully, more will be happening on that front in the future, because surviving the disease without bankruptcy seems to be a pretty lofty goal from what I read.

What is her prognosis?  Statistics are funny, it seems that they always come with all kinds of qualifications right?  If you look at her staging, she has a slightly better than 60% chance of surviving 5 years.  That seems pretty bad right?  The reality though is she is an odd duck.  Most people are 60-80 years old when they have this type of cancer.  That means two things, one is that they lower the success rate even if they die from something else, two is that they’re bodies are less likely to fight like a young person’s.  The reality is that Meg has a much better chance and things look promising.  The FAP diagnosis which isn’t talked about much will mean that she will need to be vigilant and will likely fight cancer again after this hurdle is cleared, but the good news is that it will likely be caught very early due to monitoring.  That is a “lets cross that bridge when we get there” kind of thing. 

I am attaching a photo of Meg.  I did some minor airbrushing to get rid of the incision she has from her port, just because I thought she would be more comfortable with that.  She looks way better than I look at 6:00am in a Myspace style phone picture.  She has come a real long way since just a couple weeks ago when she was flirting with the 110lb mark and not eating.

-Kalen

Sunday Morning Check-in

Just a quick administrative note, 7300 page views since Meghan started this journey.  Thank you all for the support, it means a lot to her! 

It is a lot harder for me to keep tabs on Meg while she is in Baltimore.  Hopefully now that treatment is starting, things will start slowing down for everyone there.  They were working on a very compressed schedule over the past couple weeks. 

Meghan's email address is mfitch86@gmail.com.  Lots of folks have been asking what they can do, and I think just a note of support would be helpful right now.  She probably won't have time to write back to everyone, but I know it means a lot when she hears from friends, both new and old.

- Kalen

ahhh...rest again!

Today is a "rest" day again after a whirlwind of activity. In the last few days we have gotten Meg's port for chemo in, finished the IVF treatments, got home health ready to go for following her during chemo, and pretty sure it is set for where Matt will be stationed.
So things are progressing and appear to be going as well as can be expected in this type of situation. We have also learned some things such as ..really stress that anasthesia (sorry I can't find spell check on here)makes her very nauseated and to request something for it before she gets sick. We found this out during the port placement b/c even though it was mentioned to the medical staff I don't believe that they understood it completely until after she was sick and then it delayed her discharge waiting for the medicine to kick in.
So at the clinic for the IVF harvest we did stress it and the wonderful staff put a nausea patch on b/f giving her the anasthesia. Plus the wonderful nurse gave her some extra ones to take home. From what I hear they may come in very handy once the chemo tx start. The actually harvest was a bit lower than hoped for ..only 7 eggs were considered ok to use but Meg is keeping a very positive attitude concerning it.
Matt has been following up on getting his orders to find out where he will be stationed and has had to make a couple of trips up to Fort Myers to get everything in place for that issue. He has had a guy (dave carr) whose family is from Ridgway area helping to get it all worked out (her dad helped to put that connection together) anyways between Dave Carr and the people here working together and being very helpful it now looks like there is a good chance he may actually get attached to the fort closer to Annapolis and may just have to email/call each day for a duty report. There was a time when we thought he might be attached to the one closer to DC and if they stayed here he would have a very long and tedious commute so their long term living arrangements were at a more questionable point. But now it looks like that is working out and hopefully they can stay here and he will be available to help take care of her and won't possibly need outside help once I go home. Yes I do eventually plan to go home, although I think my husband is begining to wonder about that! LOL. Vacation is nice but she doesn't require alot of time-consuming care (I am mainly providing moral support with a little extra hands on care at times) so I am really getting bored and lazy. In fact as a side note we were supposed to have a fun day today to celebrate the last 2 accomplishments and prepare for the next step but I have had an offer from Lisa to come help paint today and so I am off to work instead of fun and looking forward to it!
But it is hard at times..I tell her that considering she has been dealt a very bad hand in this game of life at this point it looks like she has been given the best bad hand someone could hope for..considering all the support she has and how well things have fallen into place for the things she needs to do to continue on with the dreams she had just a few shorts months ago..it is still very very difficult at times.
Last night was one of those moments..when I see her dealing with the ileostomy and the changes it has brought into her life then holding her arm stiff and close to her side b/c even though the port placement was a fairly simple procedure ..it still hurts to have a forigen object placed in your chest...and holding her hot packs on her tummy (b/c you know ..our overies really don't like getting stuck with a big long needle!) and then to see her try and walk around with a smile as she pounds down the liquids and food to stay hydrated and continue to try and gain weight to get ready for the next step.
It is hard and I will vent for just a moment of how much it hurts to see your child go from a perfectly healthy lifestyle to this enormus battle to keep her dreams that she was making just a short 4 months ago. There are times and parts of me that want to do everything I can physically for her and just sit down and cry with her over the unfairness of it all. But.. I know that won't help in the long run and then she gets a little pi_ _y (just a little..ya know she isn't a saint!) so I come back to reality and know that that kind of negativity won't help any of us esp her so I blank it out and try to come up with something that will bring one of her lovely smiles back. So it is going as well as be expected and we have many things to be grateful for and feel that although we don't know WHY? God is there and guiding us throught it all. Read the 23rd Psalm if you never have.
So today we..ok they..are sleeping in, going to enjoy having some fun in this cool place with lots of stuff to do and not think about Monday today. Keep it in your prayers though and help us at times to keep in mind that it is the begining of the end of all this crappy stuff in life..hopefully by next august it will only be a memory that will motivate us all to help someone else who is struggling with the unexpected in life. Going to try and get a really good pic of her and Matt on here today b/c in spite of the last few days she looks pretty good and it will be a good focus to hang on to and maintain.

Chemo sucks... but if it sucks the cancer out then we are all for it!!

Hey all.. I've been so kindly "prompted" by many in the family that I haven't done a blog updated in awhile- that I figured I would try to do one tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a VERY early morning for the three of us, but I thought now may be a good time, before things get "crazy". (As if they aren't already!)The title of this post is a sign that Matt and I both saw one day getting bloodwork done, and it caught both of our attention.

The IVF treatments we have been working on are moving along well, from what I understand. Matt and I went to yet another appointment this morning (at 7:30am. ..for those of you that don't know, we live roughly an hr away from the clinic, so this entails leaving at 6:30, and getting up at 5:30. I am so still not a morning person) But nevertheless, we made it. A few days ago we had a scare, or at least a scare in my mind. When the treatments started, everything went off without a hitch. I was responding to the injections great, to the point where basically, since Matt wasn't home at that point, they needed to slow me down, or as the put it to me the other day "coast me along" until Matt got home. Shortly after, and once Matt was home, my hormone levels dropped, and they couldn't figure out why. Well after a bit of me worrying, we went today and the doctor informed us, all is well, my levels never truly did drop, the nurse called the lab to double check the results and found out it was a lab error. Yay! However, right about when it was time to do my daily shots today, we discovered we were one needle short that we needed for my injections. Yikes! We were all fearing driving an hour, merely to get one needle. Luckily the nurse at the clinic was great, and called it into the local Rite Aid, and we were able to avoid that debacle. So, now we seem to be on schedule to do the procedure Friday, but we will have a better idea after our appointment again tomorrow. For those of you that do not know, Matt and I are going through these treatments basically as a safegaurd. There is a chance that as a side effect of the chemotherapy regiment, I will become sterile. Fortunately, through the help of the clinic, and an amazing grant we received through Sharing Hope (an affiliate of Live Strong), we are able to undergo these treatments. Therefore, someday when we have finished with this battle, and decide we are crazy enough to take on the battle of parenting, we will be able to. :)

Aside from that, things are moving along quickly for my chemo treatments. Tomorrow morning I go in for my port placement. The easiest way to explain what this is, is that it's what I'll receive my treatments through, plus they will be able to draw blood through it without having to prick my poor veins a million times!! (the IVF clinic has done enough of that lately :-/..) and from what I have been told, they can use it to run tests as well. So bright and early that's what we will be doing. I am dreading the anesthesia- really hoping it doesn't make me nausea this time. Yes, I am still terrified of all this medical stuff! If all goes as planned, I am scheduled to begin my chemo treatments bright and EARLY Monday morning. (Yeah, they don't mess around with early appointments down here. My husband loves this fact.)

On a side note away from medical news- I think I am finally making progress. Thanks to my amazing husband, who has cooked me many great meals and keeps me stocked up with protein drinks and gatorade- as well as my loving momma bringing me snacks every time she walks up and down the stairs, I am finally putting on weight! Tonight the scale said 121.5. I know, that's at night and you are not supposed to weigh yourself at night, but you know what? That's the number I like, and that's the number that makes me feel better, so right now, I am going with it. (In the morning it at least says 119.5-120, which is still a HUGE improvement from where I was not long ago at 110) We have made it out on a few ventures lately to the mall, and also down town today. Matt's dad, Mike,  is coming to visit Saturday and join the crew of my care team. haha. We are really looking forward to seeing him. Hope he can keep up with the craziness in this house!

I know many of you have been asking what you can do to help us right now. Which is absolutely amazing. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to us. I am sure we are going to need a lot of help, but at the moment I can't think of specific things. I will really try to work on that. But in the meantime, please keep up what you all have been doing. Keep the prayers coming, keep sending the good thoughts/vibes/etc. whatever it is that you believe in, and keep the support coming to us and our families.

On a final note- I don't know how many of you have seen on Facebook, but I posted a note a short while back about how God has seemed to place many nurses/doctors in my path on days where I need them most. It never fails. Lately, I have been pretty down and just down right grumpy (ask Matt, he'll def agree. When I'm not around at least. :)...Then today at the clinic we spoke with a doctor that told us he was diagnosed at 29 with cancer, and he beat it..he is WAY past 29 now. (Sorry, but his white hair kind of gave him away). Anyway, he put it to me like this. "The treatment is going to suck. Your life is going to change, but for the better. You'll make it."
 
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fall
In the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

-Words to a song I've been listening to a lot lately..I know, even on the bad days, that his hands are holding me, and will help us all to persevere through.

Strange!!

This is different..I am sitting here at 8am and I don't know where my child is. But I think it's ok because both her and Matt should be at the IVF clinic. I opted out though because they had to be there very early and I don't really think I was needed today. It was strange though to wake up and realize that this is the 1st time she has went ANYWHERE without me since her surgery on June 28th. I had a moment of panic when I first woke up ..kinda like when your child 1st goes to school or learns to drive but I am sure she will be fine. We discussed what all she needed to take and laid out everything the night before but you never know so I am praying all goes well.
As for the appt. it should be pretty routine except Matt is getting lab work done today too and will get to see the eggs for the 1st time. It has been cool to see how they have grown each time we have went and I am anxious to see if the additional shots have made much difference. I believe we are shooting for 18mm and last time most were 13 with a few closer to 16.
I will try to get her to put an update on concerning the appt because I won't have 1st hand knowledge of what has transpired today...I guess she is growing up ....again!

He's Here!!

So after another crazy day driving in the city..I think we got some stuff accomplished. Most important though is that we picked Matt up at the airport and now we can really get down to business to move on with life and I guess since they are "newlyweds" Love too.
Our day also included ..1st going to IVF clinic to check in. Visit went well and we are looking at sunday but probably monday for the actual harvest date. Which meant that we had to change the appt for her "port placement' to wednesday and adding 2 more injections each day. Meg REALLY loved giving herself 3 shots yesterday but she did it like a trooper or Army ? wife should. LOL.
She also had to have blood work done for the IVF stuff and port stuff which was good because we have been worried about her electrolytes back all the results came back good although she is still taking the potassim supplement.
Before we picked Matt up though we had to go into Baltimore to see an ostomy nurse which was NOT very helpful..took us at least 1/2 hr just to find the right parking garage once we were at Hopkins which meant we missed lunch (which was not good b/c she is def getting her "old appitite" back again and she was HUNGRY.) almost sideswiped a car on the way back out..had our VERY 1st accident with her "appliance" (we are blaming this on the nurse because she did it and change "our" system that had been working well with no accidents since we started!)
But we survived and got another shower and hopefully everything on properly this time so now we are trying to decide and see what life will bring today. I hope I found a support group down here that may actually send someone to help us at home alittle with all of this. Please pray on it because that is pretty much where we are having our trouble..changing the appliance. You know it's one thing to SEE someone how to do it, to have someone Tell you how to do it and a completely different ballgame to when you are doing it yourself without anyone standing by to say wether it's right or wrong!
But as I said we are ok..looking at "harvest any day, port placement wed and chemo on the 13th.  She isn't eating like a pig yet but getting better, staying hydrated and now weighed in at a whopping 117lbs only a few more till we make our target weight at 125!