Following are notes from caregiver Deborah Meyers on her stay with me.
Care Giver notes for Monday October 12 thru Thursday October 15
Deborah Myers
I arrived at the airport this morning as Lisa (sister) was dropped off. Melissa is so happy to be home right now and it shows she looks so pretty and it is great to see her driving. It has been about 2 months since I saw Mel and at that time she was still in the hospital. Today is a fairly good day we stopped for a salad and then went home to the condo for a rest. The nausea is bad today, but at least she still has an appetite which makes her Doctors happy. We watched the dvd’s of her trip to Italy and Japan with Wes, it was so much fun! Then we went for a walk around the block. Melissa inspired me the last time that I was here to go back to Utah and open a dance studio again. I was her dance teacher when she was a young girl in Park City. So with a business partner “Maria Marcotte” we actually worked our tails off to open in September. It has been a lot of fun talking about how to market it with Melissa because she is the expert. The name is Urban Studios & Performing Arts. The studio is dedicated to Melissa. Today Melissa announced that she is going to offer a Melissa Waller Spirited Warrior scholarship for a girl and boy to dance each year. We will announce this in November at the grand opening reception. The children will write a paragraph about what the performing arts means to them and Melissa will choose to dancers to sponsor. We have the best teachers in Utah hired and it will be a wonderful opportunity for the dancer who qualifies for the scholarship to study with the best. Melissa’s name will give inspiration to a new generation of spirited warriors. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Last night Melissa woke up in the middle of the night. She spent a few hours on the computer and then went back to bed at 3am to about 10:00am. Her schedule is getting mixed up, but the doctor s said this happens with all the different medication that she is taking sometimes sleeping in the day and up all night. I actually had to chase her around the house all day to make sure she was not doing things that she is not supposed to do. They do not want her to pick up heavy items. We are trying to get a lot accomplished today because tomorrow and Thursday we will spend at the Cancer institute. Whitney arrived from Colorado and will spend the night tonight. Melissa took a walk around the block with Whitney. We all had a nice time and went to bed early.
Melissa could not sleep again last night so we tucked her into bed and made her sleep in until about 11 am. The appointments at the Cancer Treatment Center of America (CTCA) began at noon today. We were there for about 5 hours but it went really fast for me because I was so impressed with the facility. It looks like the Marriot and everyone is so kind and respectful. The examination room has a recliner chair for Melissa. She pulls a little tube from the wall , it blows warm air to keep her comfortable. Five Doctors proceed to come in to talk with Melissa to go over prescriptions, pain management, schedules and diet and nutrition. Before CTCA she had to set appointments individually and it took a week to see all these different Doctors. The nurse did a CBC to make sure all is ok for the Chemotherapy tomorrow morning. Melissa could not keep her eyes open she fell asleep in between doctors and was exhausted today. The Doctors did not make any changes to the protocol.