12/31/18 New Year's Eve Day Morning

Gabrielle had a quiet night last night, which continues as of this writing.  I am sitting by her bed and am listening to the steady, gentle breathing of someone sound asleep.  It is much better than just before bed last night when she was coughing a lot.  She isn't sick.  I suspect the coughing is due to a combination of fluid in the lungs as well as some gastric reflux.  Yesterday, she had several periods of nausea that came on suddenly, but we were able to get things to quiet down with the right combination of medicines.  We are also trying to stay ahead of the pain with varying degrees of success.

Yesterday, we lost power for about 12 hours due to a freak lightning strike to the power pole in our front yard.  We kept Gabrielle warm with loads of blankets and firing up the gas fireplace.  Afterwards, taking advantage of a brief break in the clouds, and with a promise of heat in the car, we drove down to Edmonds for a short walk along the fishing pier:

She was worried that people would laugh at her because she had her jammy pants on.  As for me, I was worried that someone would tell her to head back to Fargo with that hat she was wearing, but she was warm and toasty.  

When we got home, we were greeted by her sister and brother-in-law Marti and Merle who brought us Pagliacci pizza and had a nice visit.  Gabrielle then suggested a round of canasta where she proceeded to clean our clocks (three canastas as opposed to none for any of us), and then wisely quit while she was ahead.

We have managed to do the home fluid drainage using the port which was placed on Friday.  We have it down to a system where Daniel is the "surgeon" and one of us helps him hook up the tubing and other paraphernalia.  We have been getting 2 liters of fluid off per day!  I don't like to see it build up that fast, but it is nice to see that we can get her some relief without having to go and sit in an emergency room waiting for a procedure to get done.

It was great to see her a little less foggy yesterday.  Also with a slight increase in energy level.  However, the pain and nausea are concerning as they are never far away.

Her next appointment for chemo is on Jan. 3.  We just don't know how she is going to tolerate it, or even if it is helping much.  Praying for wisdom about the next step.

Here's wishing all of you a great New Year's Eve and coming New Year.