Tuesday

Breathing Toy

More fun with Chester Chest- an actual photo of him, and a good idea of what Kim's line looks like (only with the dual ports on the end, and hers is a bit higher up, and on her left side.)

Today has been, largely, a sleepy day for Kim. With the exception of a couple hours of visitor time, she's been pretty much out of it, for various reasons. She's still not used to all of the checks that go on during the night, and most of her chemo is delivered in the night. (It's done on a very specific schedule- each type of chemo is delivered an exact amount of hours after another, because they each kill cells at a different stage. It's like a perfectly choreographed... battle plan.)

This morning she was having trouble again with a bit of fluid in her lungs. They gave her the meds that help and also a "toy" to play with that will exercize her lungs and help break up built up liquid. It's a small air pump that she has to breathe air through. (See Picture) The more she can inhale, the higher a gauge goes. It's sort of a competition against yourself, to see how high you can get it. (Way to motivate Kim- nothing like a little competition!) It makes her cough every time, but that's the idea.

Not long after that, her friends Melissa and Charla came to visit. They brought Kim some large photos of her cats, Fluffy, Sophie and Patches, to prop up around the room.

After that, Kim and I had a lesson on her IV lines- caring for them, replacing parts of them, and doing injections. (More fun with Chester Chest! See Picture) The bottom line is that whether they are being used or not, you need to flush them with clean saline fluid and anti-clogging fluid to keep them clean and open. While here, the nurses take care of it, but for the times she gets to come home, we'll need to do it ourselves.

Later, Uncle Patrick and Aunt Laurel came by, with our cousins Sam, Elizabeth, and Isaac. They brought Kim a very cool present: Laurel has a Salt Lake Library Card, and she's given a copy to Kim so that she can go online and reserve books or other media, (which Laurel will pick up for her) and also download audio books right to her computer/mp3 player. They brought a few books today that they think she might like. (Terry Pratchett! She'll love it.) Also, the kids drew her some pictures and they brought a CD for her to listen to. I'm really kicking myself for slacking and forgetting to take pictures- it was really darling. They signed a big poster that we've put up for new get-well notes, and learned a few things about the insruments in Kim's room. It was great seeing them- thank you guys :)

Kim had started to notice a rash forming on parts of her torso, and before long it started itching and really bothering her. She mentioned it to the nurse around 6, and the doctor ordered some benadril for her, and before long she was fast asleep. We just woke her up for a bit and checked it out- it's faded a lot, and doesn't itch at all anymore.

Now, she's working on her latest batch of chemo, and starting those bedtime zzzz's. Goodnight everyone- we love you.