adding injury to insult...oy veh!

well it has been a crazy week...those of you on facebook have had a preview of sorts...on thursday evening ginny fell...she decided to scattered some kitty litter on the remaining ice on the driveway to make sure we didn't slip and she ended up doing just that...she went down hard and her right knee took the hit.  she managed to get inside, after lying in the driveway for some time, and in true ginny style she down played the injury...hours later her pain increased and eventually she was unable to walk on it...to the ER we went.  x-rays confirmed my prediction...she broke her knee...a vertical fracture in her knee cap...the ER staff gave her pain meds and put her right leg into an immobilizer (see pics)...we were instructed to go to see orthopedics first thing friday morning.  friday was also our scheduled appointment with ginny's oncologist.  we called ortho in the morning (8:30) and on their return call, after looking at the x-rays, instructed us to wait...wait until wednesday...the swelling needed to decrease before they could look at it...as is the ginny larsen way we are documenting everything with pictures....so here are a couple few for you...we have entitled this album "bald head peg leg"

now for the cancer update...we met with dr. john laurie (oncologist) on friday morning as planned...he was pleased that ginny handled the chemo treatment as well as she did...he said her kidney function was great and that her platelets were "perfect".  her white count is low, around 600...before she started chemo her count was over 1800...in order for her to have treatment as planned on wednesday, yes that is the same wednesday as the orthopedic consultation, her counts need to rise to 1200...we will not know if her count has risen until wednesday morning.  if the count is not nigh enough we will consult with dr. laurie again...there are a couple of options for getting the count up, the first is time, waiting for her body to increase its count on its own, or there is an injection that can be given to help the body do its thing.  If she is unable to increase the count on her own by wednesday it is likely that the dosage of her last chemo was too much...the idea is that she has chemo, her count drops week two and they regenerate or whatever they do in week three...

i will say that ginny is a little discouraged...this loss of mobility is really a pain...she must keep the leg straight and so she is not able to drive...everything takes time and movement at this point is really deliberate...it takes thought and each step is carefully taken...she is sleeping "okay"...it could be better...again she has too sleep on her back with her leg elevated...she tends to be a side sleeper so it is an adjustment...

on a personal note i have to say that i too am a little discouraged for her...the immobilizer will be on for at least 6 weeks...the chemo may impact the rate of healing...in talking with others and reading, we should expect that ginny will be more and more tired and that the chemo effectswill be cumulative...if that is so...the best weeks, the weeks she will feel up to doing more are now...ah nuts!  anyway...there are still lots of smiles and laughs at the lindbloom-larsen residence...we continue to declare love and like to each other daily...we have great hope that in the end we will be able to kick this cancer back into remission and eventually ginny's bum leg will heal...

i wanted to include one more pic...here is my wife...chemo cap...immobilized leg, crutches, her trusty "grab stick" (hanging from the crutch) and a cloth book bag around her neck containing the phone, an extra chemo cap, chap stick, her water bottle, a pencil and paper, her favorite extra strength puffs and a granola bar for when she needs a boost..."gotta keep my strength up"...