So, when they say 101, they mean it. . .

Brie here: I've offered to do some of these updates for Herself. Partially because I have the greater interest in keeping folks updated through the blog so that you don't all have to call and get personal updates. Always lovely to hear your voices, of course, but there are so many calls, I'm not getting any work done! Who knew we were so loved?

Anyway, it's Monday. Another day, another set of problems. The infection Sandy attempted to ignore all weekend continued to sap her energy. She'd intended to stop by the surgical clinic this morning before her MUGU, but life and the clock conspired against her. So after her MUGU, she learned it would be an hour and a half before the clinic folk could tend to her (turns out they have other patients, too - we'd begun to think of them as our private attendants). She bailed. Her drain wound had begun seeping while she was having the MUGU, so she stuffed her bra with a wad of gauze and set off to catch a bus to work. (Note: This is probably the only time in her life that Sandy has ever stuffed her bra.)

Alas, at each bus stop along the way, she found herself having more and more trouble staying upright. She says she started looking at the concrete, thinking "That would be nice." And if she couldn't handle a bus stop, she realized she should probably go home instead of to work.

To get a full sense of her day up to this point, you should know that she left the house at 10:15 and returned at 3:00 - and all she'd checked off her list was the MUGU. I quickly saw how miserable she was and convinced her to return to the surgical clinic. The six block walk was too much for her, so I drove us.

Sandy still felt foolish for going in - thought she was being wimpy. I had a nice round of "told you so" when the nurse and surgeon both not only said she was right to come in today, but that we should have gone to the emergency room over the weekend. Her breast looks horrible -red, swollen, angry - and she's been in pain for days. Yep, when they said she should go to urgent care if her temp hit 101, they meant it. She hit 101 a couple of times on Saturday and then again at 2:00 this morning, but each time she convinced me that she just needed a nap. Yeah, right.

So they poked a needle in and drew out liquid to see if she had an abscess. The first bit of good news we've had in a while was that there is no apparent abscess. Just lots more seroma. So productive is our Sandy.

They prescribed a more powerful antibiotic, to be administered by IV, and since it was 4:45 by this time and they were closing up shop, they sent us to Urgent Care to have that done. I drove home to get Sandy fresh clothes ('nuff said) and something to read while waiting. By the time we'd waited, met with the nurse, gotten the IV in her arm, gotten the antibiotic drip (there was some delay in mixing it, apparently), and gotten her tanked up, it was 7:00. Another day given to the medical process. But we do hope this will make a difference with her infection, because it's been gross and scary.

Sandy sees her surgeon tomorrow for the already-scheduled post-surgery consult. She'll get at least another dose of high-powered antibiotics by IV, and then we'll see what they want to do. But mainly, she needs to get this infection cured so that she's comfortable, less cranky, less tired, and able to get well enough for them to begin the rounds of poison in a few weeks. That's got to be one of the weirdest motivations for getting well that I've ever known. But that's what we're saying - got to get well so you can start chemo.

And for everyone who's been asking - at the very earliest, she'll start chemo on the 31st. But we suspect this infection has pushed that date out further. And she has been wanting to participate in a clinical trial. Turns out that requires a full dental exam within the last six months -- and they want you to have no dental work a month before chemo. She last had a dental exam sometime in 2005, so we're not sure what's going to give, there. Stay tuned to this blog for all the gruesome details.