Not really revenge exacted by me mind you, but revenge I deserved to receive. You may recall that a few weeks ago I attended my Dad's 
wedding. We had the opportunity to play a few pranks on him as part of the festivities, including leaving a few things behind in his house. The treasures we left around the house featured a somewhat tacky flamingo motif, among other themes. I expected some kind of payback, and sure enough, a package arrived in the mail from my Dad. The picture to the right shows my Dad's response to the flamingo theme - an illuminated plastic flamingo, which now proudly graces our den and brightens the evening for us. Thanks Dad, and the book was cute too - touche.
wedding. We had the opportunity to play a few pranks on him as part of the festivities, including leaving a few things behind in his house. The treasures we left around the house featured a somewhat tacky flamingo motif, among other themes. I expected some kind of payback, and sure enough, a package arrived in the mail from my Dad. The picture to the right shows my Dad's response to the flamingo theme - an illuminated plastic flamingo, which now proudly graces our den and brightens the evening for us. Thanks Dad, and the book was cute too - touche.No numbers to report this week - a minor mix-up with the lab work order and the marker numbers didn't make it to the order. I'll probably get them done this week instead. I thought the lack of test results was because we've been having more difficulty in getting a blood draw from my port in recent weeks and didn't draw enough on Thursday to get all the tests done. When we can't get any sample out, it sometimes means that tissue has grown over the end of the catheter implanted into the large vein returning blood to my heart. The little flap of tissue will allow fluids to be administered, but not withdrawn and may eventually completely clog the catheter. The only way to get rid of the tissue is to fill the catheter with an enzyme that dissolves the tissue, and wait for another hour. (I was told that this stuff was originally derived from rattlesnake venom, but it's not nearly as exotic now - it comes from engineered e. coli bacteria, which is cool but still not nearly as cool as venom.) Anyway, this adds a lot more time to my day in the big green chair, so we try other methods first. Sometimes we can undo a blockage by having me stretch, cough, laugh (laughter the best medicine? It's free too!), or otherwise move around. When this happened a few weeks ago, Sandy, who is one of my regular nurses in the lab mentioned the "Valsalva maneuver" as something we might try sometime. I had to look it up as soon as I got settled into the big green chair, just because it sounds very clinical and important: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valsalva_maneuver . It amounts to pinching your nose, closing your mouth and exhaling forcibly. It causes blood to temporarily dam up and when you release the pressure, the blood is free and rushes more forcibly through your veins and arteries. I had a new nurse on Thursday, and when we couldn't get a sample, I mentioned trying the Valsalva maneuver, as if I really knew what the hell I was talking about. She was suitably impressed by my vast knowledge of medicine (what would we do without wikipedia?), but Sandy came over and blew my cover. Let's give it a go, and sure enough, after the first try, we managed to get a little flow. A second attempt (which made me a little dizzy - a cheap, but probably not too smart buzz for you thrill seekers out there - just don't blow out your Eustachian tubes!), did the trick. I'm glad that I have a good relationship with my nurses - we might have had to do the enzyme thing one more time if we hadn't tried the Valsalva.
Another thing to take away from my last visit - I guess what doesn't kill me will not only make me stronger, it might may make me smarter too, and I can always use that kind of help.
Hollyhocks swing in the breeze in my backyard
