Coping
Patient and Caregiver Diaries
Patient Diary -- Jenn Lalonde
oldest to recent
Tonight my mom and I went to visit my grandpa in the hospital.. He was admitted on monday because he couldn't breathe. The man is 84 years old, still working as a security guard and will surely outlive alot of people in my family, which is crazy because again he's 84! We were laughing because my aunt was telling us when they called the ambulance for him he put on his shoes and coat and went out to move his truck so everyone would have enough room in the driveway. Then he refused to lay in the stretcher, he sat in that seat in the back and told the parametic that he is usually the one helping people, not the other way around. Anyways he was close to having pneumonia and is now feeling and looking fine. They think he'll be able to go home tomorrow, it's just that he's on oxygen, and that's why he can't go home yet. When we were driving there we seen two Christmas trees lit up inside people's houses on my street! It's really a bit early! Wow! I am planning on decorating early too, but not for atleast 2 more weeks or even 3. I remember last year I didn't want to take my decorations down and ended up taking them down waaaay after new years, so I figure if I decorate earlier, I can take them down at a normal time. I recieved a 5 dollar off coupon for Pet Smart today, so I think I'll try and go there tomorrow and get Charly a new sweater. I can't wait to get a digital camera, and as soon as I do everyone will know about it because I'll be posting pictures all the time! I really am excited for christmas. My mom got on at Costco this week after 6 months of being unemployed. She is selling memberships at the front desk but today they put her on the floor trying to sell the executive membership and she hated that. I can see why. She is not a good salesperson.... and I don't know how anyone can be. Basically you have to annoy the shit out of people and continue begging and pleading with them even after the customer has already said no. I think she misses CBS in a way, in another way I know she's glad to be outta there.... It's hard though, I mean she had good job for 25 years and then the lab closes and they get laid off.... Starting over sucks. So that means she'll be working every weekend, and probably holidays too. Oh well.. I hope things get better for her. Tomorrow the Bell guy is coming again. I've had a staticy line for so long and I am sick of it. He was here last thursday also, and I thought the problem got fixed, but the static is back. I really can't stand waiting for these people to come, especially since they give you a "I'll be there between 8 and 5" so it kinda ruins your day, but I can't handle talking on my phone when I can hear more static then the other person talking. I hope it get fixed for good tomorrow. We'll see.
I am getting very excited to decorate my house for Xmas. The past couple days I've been christmas shopping and then when I'd get home I actually wrapped them too! I'm way ahead this year. The only ones I have left to shop for is Wes and my cousin Lindsay.. both of which I have no clue what to get . I might actually get a few more little things for friends and for my aunt because last week I was stressing out because I thought I didn't have enough time or money to shop, but I was wrong. I still have enough money and lot's of time. It's kinda weird to see people's houses decorated already though, and it's weird because I can't decide if it's too early or not to start my decorating. I wanted to wait until we have snow on the ground but I don't think I care anymore.. I think we'll start next week. The tree doesn't go up till December though.. way to early for that! Wes is leaving on Sunday (our 5 year anniversary) for the Island. Once again it's deer hunting season. He'll be gone for a week. This weekend is a busy weekend too, Saturday at 5pm is the Santa claus parade, and we might be going with Pete and Julie.. (and their kids of course.) Then Saturday night we're partying for Michelle's birthday so hopefully that ends up to be a good night. Sunday I have a baby shower to go to and after that Michelle and I are gonna go see Devin's (her son) hockey game. After that I am going to my parent's house and will most likely stay there until Wednesday.. It depends on if me and my mom can handle living in the same house again.. just kidding, well kinda.... we tend to drive each other crazy when were around each other for too long. So lots of stuff planned for the next couple days... when Wes is gone I plan on getting his christmas shopping finished and then I will not have to go to the mall again until January.. I hate the mall.. I love spending money, but I can't handle the people. I have issues.. hahaa..... oh well that's me... That's it for now..
My poor fish died today. Alot may say it's pathetic that I'm sad about this because he was only a small fighting fish that literally cost about $3.00, but I am sad. He lived for more than a year in a vase with one of those plants on top. At first I was a little concerned that the little guy might not be getting enough oxygen with the plant on top of the vase, but I know he loved it. He made the roots his home and he loved to weave himself inside of them and sleep there. I kinda knew he wasn't feeling well this week because he never came to the top for food, ever. And I was gonna change his water last night but I didn't. I wonder if I would have if he would have survived. Aww... my poor little fish. Right now he is still in his vase but I put a picture frame around it so I wouldn't have to seem him floating upside down. I cannot be the one to flush the little guy down the toilet. This nonsense just goes to show how awful I deal with death. Not good... not good at all.
Fish --- sometime in 2004 - November 18 2005.
Rest in peace little buddy
Tomorrow the MCTV Christmas telethon is on and I plan to decorate my tree, have a few beers with Wes and whoever else happens to come by and watch the telethon. It has kinda been a tradition for me for the longest time.... one of my oldest friends Lisa and I used to get together every telethon and have sleepovers when we were kids, and we'd stay up and watch it till it was over at like 2 or 3 am. It was better back then because we were young and we actually knew alot of people that went so that was fun.... now it's truly boring, but I still can't help but have it on... I had planned on decorating my tree weeks ago, but I guess I just never got around to it. Tomorrow is the day. We're supposed to get 30cm of snow, so it'll be a good day to stay inside. Even though it's a Saturday night. So tonight when we were out I called home to check messages and there was a really excited message from my dad, who NEVER leaves messages on my machine, he never even calls me!. He was asking me if I'd read the pha news yet and to call him as soon as I got in. We ended up going over there and I read it.... I'm not gonna go into it again, because I just posted it here and on pha to see if anyone else has read it or see what they think.. but supposedly there is a breakthrough with ph and that they found out it isn't a lung disease after all... it's a blood disease, (if they are correct-who the hell knows) but something to do with not having enough SNO in our blood. Anyone reading this, please read my post and tell me what you think.. My parents, Wes and I are excited about this, but it kinda puzzles me because no one from here or pha is talking about it? Why aren't you guys excited? Am I getting my hopes up? I don't know but the article seemed promising. They are talking about it as if this could be a "cure!" I am also excited to talk to my doctor about all this too. Does this mean we are all taking heart meds for nothing? I don't have any clue what this all means, but I want to know. I am very excited and keep going back and forth from the 2 websites to see if anyone has responded to my post yet, but of course not, it's 1:25 in the morning and everyone is sleeping... Till tomorrow.
I'm in a really bad mood right now....for no apparent reason either. Lately I've just been getting pissed off at just about everything. Well today anyways.. I guess I'm just bored or something. Well for a second there on (I think it was Friday night) I had a glimmer of hope and actually envisioned myself not having ph for much longer. My life being normal again. Back to work and stuff and just freaken normal. So much for that, for now anyways. What a crock of shit. My family and me were I guess getting our hopes up a little too much. Oh well. I still plan on bringing that article to my doctors and having them read it and talk about it. Last night I did as I said I would and watched the telethon, drank, and put up my tree. That took so long... oh my god. Like 2 hours was spent putting the damn thing up. I love it though and it looks good. I love Christmas and am so happy I do not have to go to the mall till next year. I hate shopping pretty much on a normal day... pretty much because people just piss me off.. Yea I have issues... lots of freaken issues. But I'm glad I can avoid the madness of the people who do their shopping at the last minute. Sucks to be them. Wes bought me a new fish yesterday, and I find him very ugly. He's a clown tailed beta, and his tail is just huge.. he also appears to have something wrong with his nose. I'm glad to have a new one though and I've named him Tony V. (Last night I seen a commecial about Tony V's Pizza and I never even knew we had a tony v's, and I was craving it, but we had no money on us to order and we were both drinking so we couldn't drive....) So anyways I named him Tony V. Ok now I'm hungry and have nothing else to say so I'm going to get food.
So I just called Comcare, the company that comes here and does my blood draws for me while I'm in this clinical trial. I missed my last blood draw because the week Wes was hunting, I stayed at my mom's and wasn't around. Of course I knew I had to get it done because I checked my messages daily and there were several from a replacement nurse who was so french I could hardly understand her. I am stubborn so I said to myself, screw it, I will wait till Marguerite gets back and till I'm home next week, and then she can come. Marguerite has been my nurse for about a year and half now, and she does a really good job. Anyways I call Comcare today to find out Marguerite no longer works for them, she decided to persue other studies... Ughhh.. So now I am stuck with this new french nurse named Nicole who I cannot even understand and I'm am not thrilled about this because if she hurts me while taking my blood I will not be happy. Also I have a wrapped christmas present for Marguerite sitting under my tree. Piss me off. I'm sure I'll find someone to give the present to but still.. I'm sad that she's gone. I just hope this new lady is a good "blood taker" and doesn't hurt me. I honestly cannot wait until this clinical trial is over!
Ugghhh.. right now I'm pretty pissed off. I sit down to watch the finale of Survivor and it's not even on. There are like 7 channels it's supposed to be on, and nooooooooo it's not even on any of them. I can't stand people who screw things up like this. Morons. I don't know if me, Wes and my mom are the only people on this earth that are the only ones pissed about this, but I don't care either. :( It freaken better be on soon though. Last night we went to Wes' cousins wedding.. it was alright, actually could have been better, the party practically cleared out at 11:30. Pretty lame if you ask me. His family is so huge that I am practically dreading our wedding because of our guest list. And we were only with one side of his family last night. There are 3 other sides.... (it's very complicated and after 5 years I still don't even understand so I won't getting into to it.) But yeah, I seriously think it would be easier to just elope. If I had it my way I'd seriously consider that.... or I would go away somewhere like Jamaica, or Mexico or somewhere like that to get hitched. I have no desire at all to get married in Sudbury. I am not getting married in a church because I have no religion, I don't wanna get married in any hall, because that's not me. I want it to be outside with tents set up and just the whole outdoors thing. Now that's me. Who knows.... We're not planning anything at all yet, so I don't have to stress myself out about anything yet. Thank god. Ok well I think it's on now..... better be anyways!!
I had another weird dream last night. Right now I am reading "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey and if anyone had read it they will know it is about treatment for Drug and Alcohol addictions. In my dream I was back in school (again) and I had skipped math class... (nothing new for me because I hated math class and I used to skip alot.. I started having problems in math when I was in grade 2... never understood it, and I got to a point where when I was in grade 10, I actually failed it 3 times. I never took math after grade 10.) So back to the dream, I got caught for skipping and was sitting in another class when these older people I didn't know walked in and told me I would be shipped out to (it was either Arizona or Arkansas somewhere with an A) to go to treatment for math! hahha.. I was so upset, and I remember crying and when they told me I would be leaving sometime next week, I asked them about Christmas and they said yes I would be spending xmas alone at treatment, I freaked out. I was so upset and I betcha I was really crying in my dream because I remember that part really well, thinking how my parents and Wes would be so mad and sad that I wouldn't be there for xmas..... Weird dream I tell ya... but, atleast for the moment I have taken a break with Ann Rule books, so there will not be any people trying to murder me in my dreams..... phew!
Well I'm obviously feeling better, because I am still awake at 1:42. Yesterday I felt like crap all day... I was so dizzy... It was either because I had forgotten to take my pills because the night before I was so tired I just fell asleep, or it was because I drank too much on Saturday night. I think it was the pill forgetting thing though.. I will never do that again. It was awful and I don't know how people go through having ph side effects on a daily basis. I am lucky for the moment, that's for sure! I'm extremely bored right now, and I was just reading through a couple of my very first entries in here... I really want to read all of them some day and edit all of my mistakes. Mostly cause that drives me nuts, but one day I'd like to print out all my entries and make a book of them or something. This might be a pretty unpleasant though, but when I die, I want certain people to be able to read them. Not a single person reads these. Well perhaps one or two of my friends have read like one or two entries, but that is it. No one else even knows I have an online diary, and I'd like to keep it that way because if I knew someone was reading these, then I most likely wouldn't be so honest. Well I would be but not brutally honest.. Wes knows I do this but he has no idea how to get here or anything... I don't even know if I can print them, but I will try someday. I don't know how that's gonna work now with the comment thingy.. I don't really like the comment thing but what can ya do. Oh man.. I can't believe it's so close to Christmas! I'm so excited!! I can't wait.... Christy is coming here on the 28th and that should be fun.. Shannon is coming, I think on the 23rd and that's awesome too, even though I haven't talked to her in god knows how long.. I'm mostly excited to see Mel's baby... she keeps sending me pics and she is so adorable.. She has 2 teeth now and supposedly she's really talking alot. I haven't talked to Mel in about 2 weeks but Jessica still wasn't crawling then so I don't know if she is yet. She hates being on her stomach so Mel thinks she is just gonna skip right to walking.. who knows...I cannot wait to see her. Usually every xmas eve my mom's side of the family gets together, but this year I don't think we're doing much. Christmas day is of course hectic as hell, but I love it. We have to go to Wes' parents for abit in the morning, then off to my parents for the present opening, which takes soooo long with my mom and my aunt. Ughhh.. Oh well.. Then supper at my parents then just hang out or whatever. Boxing day this year I am going to my grandpa's camp withmy dad's side and I can't wait. They are the true partyers and were gonna party!~ We usually go to Wes' parents for supper but I told him this year I really wanted to go to camp so were having a breakfast with them then off to camp... should be fun. I just hope my mom can watch Charly because I cannot bring her, and her and Jessica didn't really get along last time (Jess was scared shitless of her) so I don't really know what I'm gonna do yet,... but I'll figure it out! Ok I need to sleep so I'm outta here.
Mother of God I cannot sleep. I just finished the book A Million Little Pieces, it was excellent. It was crazy, it was insane, it was sad, it was powerful, it was awesome and most of all it was intense. My next book will be My Friend Leonard which is the continuation of that book, and I heard it's also pretty good. This booked moved me man, I can't stop thinking about it. I told my brother about it and in some ways reminds me of him, so I'm really hoping he'll read it. He likes reading more than me so I think he will, but I know he is busy with school so I don't know when he'll have time to read it, but I think everyone should read it. Well maybe not everyone, but certain people definatly should. If you have ever been addicted to anything, definatly pick it up and give it a read.. It's amazing. As you can tell that's all that's on my mind. It's so late, 4:30am and I don't know when I'll be able to sleep. I'm wide awake. Wes' alarm clock will be going off in about 40min. Insomnia sucks.. Anyways I should get off the computer atleast, so bye 4 now.
oldest to recent

.jpg)