DAILY NANCY UPDATE #51

Greetings. 

This is the fifty-first in a series of DAILY NANCY UPDATES I will be posting until the amazing Nancy Neufeld Callaway is in full remission and we have kicked her leukemia on its ass. 

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BREAKING NEWS

Today I took Nancy back to UCLA for what was supposed to be a round of both regular chemo and intrathecal (spinal) chemo. But once again, she was feeling really run down. And once her routine blood tests were done-- they revealed that her ANC (immune system) numbers were pretty low.

So the decision was made not to give Nancy intrathecal chemo-- which didn't break her heart, since spinal taps of any kind suck-- but she still got regular chemo in the form of two quick, not exactly painless shots.

Nevertheless... did the Sunshiny Superwarrior Goddess complain? No, she absolutely did not.

POST SCRIPT

Of course, I don't mind complaining a little bit. Or at least trying to dispense a little wisdom for anyone who (God forbid) even remotely finds themselves (or a loved one) in the vicinity of what we're going through. 

Even in the best hospitals in the world with the most incredibly skilled and dedicated staffs-- mistakes still get made every day. And today, we had a nurse who made a big one-- insisting Nancy needed to take a medicine that after only two months of battling cancer, she knew full well she wasn't supposed to take. So we questioned her advice. And after some hemming and hawing and conceding to our demand that she call the doctor for confirmation-- the nurse finally came back and admitted she was wrong. 

Was it an honest (albeit slightly cocky) screw up? Yeah. And we all make them.

But it was also a very good reminder for us that a patient's best advocate is quite often the patient herself. She (or the family and friends who have her back) have to constantly take notes (I'm also a big fan of using the voice recorder function on my phone) and pay close attention at all times to what's being suggested, prescribed, and administered. Otherwise, what's already a pretty lousy situation can accidentally, but very quickly get worse.

Not to worry, though. Because WE LOVE NANCY, and... 

ALL IS WELL!