The dry heaving started a couple miles from home, and I was doing everything in my power to avoid throwing up in Josh's car. I tried every trick in the book - drinking water, taking deep breaths, closing my eyes and imagining myself in my happy place (anywhere warm and by an ocean), and even had the A/C cranked and blowing in my face even though the temperature outside was only in the 20's. This was not good. How could I feel so terrible after chemo, and expect to feel well enough a few hours later to hop in the car and head to Mankato in order to see Josh graduate on Saturday morning? Our hotel reservations had been made a few months in advance, and being that it was the day of arrival, we weren't getting our money back if we canceled the reservation. Oh the predicament we were in. Trying to stay positive, I thought that maybe once we made it home, I could crawl into bed and get in a good 3 hour nap and wake up to no nausea. Nope...of course not! Sleeping was out of the question. The second I'd lay down, I was hopping back up and rushing for the toilet.
It was almost 5 pm, and Josh had to make a decision. He needed to be to Mankato one way or another, and we decided he'd go ahead and stay the night in the hotel and we'd touch base later on that night/first thing Saturday morning. Sharon (Josh's mom), Kristin (sis-in-law), and the kiddos (Emma (niece) and Ryan (nephew)) were already at the hotel so it wasn't like Josh was going to be alone. He just didn't want to leave me at home without anyone else there in case I needed to head to Urgent Care for dehydration. I knew he was torn as to what to do, but felt a little better once my parents decided to stay behind in case I needed anything, even though they too had a room reserved that evening in Mankato.
Before Josh left for Mankato, he went and picked me up some stuff - Prilosec, Powerade Zero, and Pedialyte. I watched an episode of Dr. Oz on one of my days I worked from home and he mentioned how Pedialyte is a great cure for hang overs. Now, obviously I wasn't experiencing any kind of hang over, but I figured, what do I have to lose? I'm not kidding when I say that this stuff is liquid GOLD! Within 20 minutes of taking a few good swigs from the bottle, I was already starting to come around. All the cramping and gurgling going on in my stomach was subsiding and I felt like a new woman when I woke up on Saturday. My parents swung by around 6 am, picked me up, and off we went to Mankato. I knew it meant so much to Josh that we were all able to be there for him, and it was important for me to be there too. He had invested 2 1/2 years to getting his MBA, and walking across that stage and accepting his diploma that Saturday morning was the icing on the cake. Emma and Ryan cheered on uncle Josh with their pom pom's and we all met up at the Pizza Ranch afterwards for a little lunch before heading home (Thanks for lunch, Sharon!). It all worked out in the end!
Some pictures from graduation - 12-10-2011
Emma & Ryan cheering on uncle Josh
So glad you are feeling better and were able to make it. I may have to keep the pedialyte idea in mind so thanks for the advice! Oh, and way to go Josh too!
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