October 2, 2008

Oct 3- Happy Birthday Misty & Zack!!! (This Blog has yesterdays info that is why I dated October 2nd)

You all have been so patient We got Great News with the Bone Marrow Biopsy results: Hypocellular Bone Marrow (<5%) with no evidence of residual Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

The break down of this that is important to mention is that the Blast Cells that were 33% upon my original diagnosis are now at 1% which is outstanding!

So where do we go from here. It depends on who I talk to. I got a new Dr. today, they rotate every 2 weeks up here. Her treatment includes 3 more rounds of Chemo inpatient at the James. Of course there will be 2 to 3 weeks of time at home between treatments. My other Dr. told me If we got the Blasts down to less than 5% once my numbers were up in about 2 weeks, I would be discharged & unless I got real sick I would be able to complete the treatments out patient recovering at home. These are 2 drastically different answers so everyday I feel what they tell me is subject to change. I am anxious to hear what my outside Dr. has to say, I do not know who has the final say so on this, but the Dr. that told me the treatment could be outpatient will not be back before my discharge unless I get really sick between now & the 17th so he will not be determining my next treatment.

We will just have to wait and see no matter what for the next 6 months to a year I am going to require daily lab draws, weekly infusions & 3 more Chemo Treatments at a minimum. It is going to be a bumpy ride.


My lab draws were hemoglobin went from 8 to 10.7 with 2 infusions, My Hct went from 23 to 30.6, my White Blood Cells went from .6 to .7 & my Platelets went from 38 to 20.

My Chloride went from 111 to 108, Creatinine went from .50 to .57 & my Calcium went from 6.5 to 8.8.

Niki Lemon came up to see me at lunch time, she offered to give me a foot massage, but I wanted to go eat so we went down to the Season's Cafe & had the fish, it was pretty good. She started her new job as the Safety Engineer for the Medical Center. She gets to rewrite their Emergency Operations Plans, lucky dog. I miss being a productive member in society right about now. I have been in the hospital for about 3 weeks & it is driving me bonkers I am so bored. I know that I need to concentrate on getting better but I wish I could do a little bit of work for a distraction from all of this sometimes.

I finally made it outside for some fresh air today, I broke out my tennis shoes & my MLMC hoodie & headed to CVS. It took me for ever to find a Birthday card for Zack & Misty but I think I got some funny funny ones. I also was able to get a small pack of Thank you cards to send out to people. I haven't got out much so I had really been looking forward to getting those. I missed my Vitamin Water & they had some. I got the lemonade one it was so refreshing & really quenched my thirst. I get cotton mouth so bad from the Chemo & it really seemed to help with that. I made it down to the Hospital gift shop & was able to get Zack some birthday presents. I got him a train whistle, a foot long pen, 2 books, a snake webkinz, he likes playing on the computer so I thought he could have fun with that & a few other little things.

My stubble is falling out like crazy & it makes my head hurt, it is so sensitive down by the follicles. Angie Hunsinger got me some olive oil so I am going to try rubbing that on my head it is supposed to help. My #3 stubble is now bald in big patches all over. My hair was so thick it is taking forever to fall out.

Paula thank you for getting my Mary Kay order to Marcus so quickly, you rock!!!

I am looking forward to my weekly date with Alan & Donnie tomorrow, I talked to Alan tonight & he asked me if I wanted Chipolte again he said we can get it extra hot this time and burn the Cancer out of me, I laughed & said no as good as it was my belly can't handle it.

Marcus got my bathroom sink all hooked up last night, I guess he was having a heck of a time trying to get the pipes not to leak. I am so excited to see it.

The Swann man came to the house last night & I missed him I guess Marcus actually ordered some stuff surprisingly. For those of you who don't know I don't cook much so the Swann Man was a big source for or family dinners before Misty moved in & it is just a long running joke.

I will try to get a picture of my Bald head with Donnie & Alan's tomorrow (Alan shaved his head when we found out I got Leukemia) & well Donnie always keeps his Bald. Kim teases me when all the hair falls out we will have to put baby oil on my head & see whose shines more, mine or Donnie's.

There is a lot to be said about being positive and having a good support system & I think the results today are a true testament to that. Thank you all so much for that! We took a big step on the road to recovery & remission today, it may take awhile to get to the top but together we will get there!