Dedicated to women's health and well-being

HerArticle

Sponsored By

Another Day At CTCA

August 11, 2009 - 7:33am 235 reads 0 comments

Hooray for today! I finally got the chest tube shut off and disconnected from the wall. Freedom!

I can actually walk around the halls, use the restroom, and go down to the cafe now. If all goes well tomorrow with the X-rays and my lung stays expanded, then they will be able to take the chest tube out and I will be one step closer to heading home. The doc may want to ween me off of the IV dilaudid which will add on another 24 hrs to my stay. That’s fine, as long as I’m not confined to my room again.

Today was Kim’s daughter’s birthday. They had a little celebration in the game room area with presents from family and cake. Her daughter is absolutely adorable. It breaks my heart to see such young kids have to experience such a horrible disease at their age. I know Kim wanted to make sure that today was a special day for the kids and wanted to make it so the hospital didn’t seem like “mommy’s sick place,” I hope she accomplished that.

Gina returned back to AZ from her hometown of Buffalo, NY. It was quite without her here over the weekend and it was nice to have her back. We hung out pretty much the entire day doing mics things. She doesn’t have a car here in AZ, so once I’m discharged I want to show her the east side of the Valley. So far she has only experienced the west side. I know she has a list of places she wants to see before she has to head back to Buffalo for awhile so hopefully I can help her out with at least one of the places she wants to see (Kartchner Caverns, Sonoran Desert Museum, Humphrey’s Peak, etc).

She has been a great support for me since I’ve been here so I want to help her out in any way that I can. She is looking to move here once her treatment is finished. She is going to have to find a job first probably. She works in the telecommunications industry for Verizon (?) back home. I think our version would be a Cox Communications or Qwest. If anyone has any ideas, even if they are not in the telecommunications industry, let me know.

She already found a house that she is in love with and it comes fully furnished! She is working diligently on getting the financing put together to make it happen.

Add A New Comment

We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.

Start Asking & Sharing

Add A New CommentComments

There are no comments yet. Be the first to get the conversation started.

Log in

Are you a member? Log in first to track your posts

Not a member? Join us. Membership is not required to post.

More information about formatting options

We never share email addresses with third parties. Your email address will be used to notify you of activity on your post and send you our newsletter if you choose to sign up for it.
Verify that you are a human (not a computer):
This is necessary to prevent computer programs from automatically posting spam or other irrelevant content on EmpowHER.com. Enter the characters in the box to the left (case sensitive). Do not enter spaces between the characters.
Image CAPTCHA

Free Weekly Newsletter

Sign up for EmpowHER's weekly newsletter

Featured Provider Discover more about the nation's top provider.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America

Cancer Treatment Centers of America

For almost 30 years, Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has been on the leading edge of cancer treatment with its individualized, whole-person care model. With cancer hospitals in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, Tulsa, and suburban Phoenix, CTCA continues to expand its accessibility to patients. Our cancer experts provide a full range of treatment options—including options for advanced stage cancers and complex cases—all under one roof.

HERStory View compelling videos from everyday women

Irene L
Irene L
SurvivHER

Irene Shares If Staying At CTCA Was Like A Hospital (VIDEO)

Irene explains if she would compare her experience at CTCA to a normal hospital stay.

View this HERStory

Health News Read up-to-the-minute medical news & stories.

Study Suggests Link Between Cell Phones and Brain Tumors

TUESDAY, Oct. 13 (HealthDay News) -- The latest study focusing on a possible cell phone-brain tumor connection finds a weak potential link between the two. A review of existing research on the ...
Read more