testing, testing, visiting, testing... repeat

My undying love and devotion goes to the genius who first contemplated the use of nitrous oxide in dentistry. What a freakin whiz.
I'm sure I will dedicate far too much of my time to researching the particulars later tonight. Until such point, however, I will try to give you a brief run down of what's going on in the last few days.

My gram is in the hospital, as you already know. She has recovered well from the heart attack, but now we fear that she is suffering from a bad case of gout in her one knee and both feet. It seems that the staff are unable to make up their minds as to whether it is in fact gout, and will be running more blood tests today. Hopefully, the situation will be resolved soon, so she can start moving around again.
She is still putting on her brave face, but it seems to be getting harder and harder for her to do as time goes on. I think she is starting to worry about never getting out of the dang hospital. We do what we can to console/comfort while re-assuring her that she will be out soon enough. Dispute our frequent visits, I cant begin to imagine how lonely it must be in there for her.

This is just for the morning.

My grandmother- the actress (notice the lack of needle point).


As for me, I've been to a plethora of appointments this past week.
The schedule was a little something like this-
Friday- Ultrasound (to see if the cancer has spread to my liver)
Monday- Dentist (check-up)
Tuesday- Echocardiogram (baseline & to ensure heart is healthy enough for Tx)
Wednesday- Bone scan (to see if cancer has spread to my bones)
Thursday- Dentist (to drill my face off and fill three cavities)

All the appointments went really well. The weather, of course, didn't always co-operate, but we got through the week with no major complications(Thanks to my father and uncle for driving me to London). I will find out the results of the test on Tuesday before my chemo begins.

I did bring my camera to both the Echo and the bone scan, however, I forgot it in the car the day of the echo. I would have gone to retrieve it, had it not been for the blizzard and frigid temperatures outside. So.. I have to make do with pictures only from the bone scan. The echo was like the abdominal ultrasound in many ways...same gross conductive gel gettin all over everything. The only real difference was the placement of the transducer(I think that is the correct name?).


The abominable snowdad.

gettin radioactive.

This was 1 inch from my nose... I may or may not have been nervous



Yesterday, I had three cavities filled so they won't be problematic during my chemo.
The dentist was quite nice (although that could have just been the gas talking) and it only took about an hour to complete. During the procedure, I was thinking how much of a better place the world would be if everyone had access to that stuff. I mean, apart from the potential long term damage that could be done, and the complete lack of productivity, I think it would be a pretty interesting.

This weekend I'm heading out to Kitchener to see Melanie and Kyle (fingers crossed).
I'm really looking forward to it, but a little apprehensive about leaving my grandmother for an extended period of time. Apart from that, I don't really have any future travel plans. My chemo starts on Tuesday, so I'm sure that I will be laying low for a little while. I'll be sure to remember my camera this time(!) and post an update as soon as I'm no longer hangin out on the bathroom floor ;) haha.
Man... I wonder how I could go about sneaking some nitrous oxide into the chemo clinic.

xo