TGIF

Well I wanted to update everyone on the donor search. I spoke with my donor coordinator yesterday and she said after they received all my blood typing they put all my information into the donor database and I have 315 potential matches! I can't believe the number. Granted not all are perfect matches, but the fact that I have so many is encouraging. I received funding from the National Marrow Donor Program to test 4 potential donors. They were starting to contact them yesterday. It should be a couple of weeks before we know if any of them are going to be my donor. I am happy that they have started the search. I have a feeling that it will take a month or more to find my donor and get started with the transplant.

Injections are going well. We started them last night at 10pm. I am very proud that my mom was able to give me a shot. It is really not that bad.

Exciting day

I had some excitement today. The nurse told me when I left the hospital that if I had pain or swelling in my right arm to go see the doctor. Well on Tuesday I started having some pain under my right arm. I called the nurse this morning and she said I should go for a Doppler study to check to see if I had a blood clot. Well they found that I had two clots in two different veins. So at my doctors office they did blood work to check to see if my platelets were high enough and they wanted to take out my picc line. The picc line is great for a short amount of time, but a side effect is blood clots. Taking it out was easy. Taking the bandage off was more painful than actually taking it out. So to get rid of the blood clot I have to be on blood thinners. I don't mind taking the medication, but it also involves giving myself injections. I am not a needle person and I really don't think I could give myself injections. I had my dad learn so he could be the one to give them to me. The needle is so small that it doesn't hurt, but I get so much anxiety that I work myself up about it. I am getting better around needles, but that fear is still there. Hopefully after getting injections every 12 hours for the next week will cure me of my fear.

Writing this from home!

I was finally able to leave the hospital today. My doctor wanted to do my last bone marrow biopsy this morning and then afterwards I was free to leave. Talk about happy. I was so ready to leave. As soon as I knew I was going home I was taking everything off the walls and packing my suitcase. I was out of the hospital by noon. It is so nice to be home. I laid in my bed and took a 2 hour nap uninterrupted. I go for lab work on Thursday and have a follow-up appointment with my doctor on Monday. Other than that I have nothing going on. Feel free to call me at home 817-249-1770.

How could I forget

I forgot what yesterday was until late in the afternoon. I had my sister look at the calendar to confirm what I thought. Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the first time I was diagnosed with Leukemia. It was the day my life changed. I believe for the better, even though at the time I was scared. At the time things happened so fast. I got the call at school from my doctor. He had tracked me down at school, never a good thing. I was not expecting what he told me over the phone. He said that there was something wrong with my blood and he thought I had Leukemia. Hearing those words made my knees weak. Then he said he had spoken with an oncologist in Temple and they are waiting for me. I was to leave right away and get myself to Temple. I had no time to process all that was going on until later. Everything after that was a blur. I was admitted to a room, bone marrow biopsied, port placed, heart scanned, and chemo started all within 24 hours.

Going thru all that then and now I know I am a stronger person. I don't take things for granted like I use to. I stand up for myself more and fight for what I need. Life has more meaning and I want to live to be a very old woman. God has a plan for me and I know he wants me to be around a very long time.

I am still fever free. I will be getting what I hope to be my last blood transfusion today. All my other counts are still on the rise. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will be going home very soon.

I see the light

I was sure that the fever that I had yesterday was the result of my counts coming back and not the strep infection that I have. My prayers were answered. My nurses this morning told me my counts looked good today. I couldn't wait to hear them. Well they were good.

HGB (red blood cells) 8.1- down from yesterday. I may need a transfusion tomorrow
Platelets- 55,000!!- They were 25,000 yesterday
White Count-1.6- It was 0.7 yesterday. The highest it's ever been.
ANC (fighter cells)- 0.2- This is the first time I have produced these. This is the number that needs to go up so I can get out of here.

I finally see the light. Who knows how much longer I will be here, but I finally see the end of this hospital stay. As long as I am feeling good I don't mind being here until it is safe for me to go home. The last thing I want to do is go home and catch something and come right back. It has been a rough 3 days, but it is part of the healing process. I tried to be strong and I think I was. I made it thru the roughest part and now I am happy that I have made it thru this first round of chemo. Just one more to go. I know if I can do this, then I can go to Dallas and kick butt.

My dad wanted me to add a picture of my sister. So here is a picture of her and I.

I made platelets!!

After 3 weeks I finally made some platelets. They were 16,000 yesterday and today they were 25,000. I am so happy my body finally produced something. My doctor said that I am showing signs of count recovery. That is what I want to hear. I have been in the hospital for 3 weeks as of today. I am still running a fever. Not 102, but it is still 100-101. From my blood cultures it showed I have a bacteria infection that is a strain of strep. I have been watching the news and all that seems to be on is about the drug resistant staph infection. I was freaked out that was what I had, but thankfully I don't. And also it is not uncommon to run a fever when your counts start to recover. Maybe things are starting to look up. Now if I can only get over this fever then all will be well.


Christy- Thanks for the messages. Right now I just need prayers.
Alicia- Thanks for reading the blog. Tell Eddie hi. Still having fun packing?
Mama Bailes- Thanks for the message. I have been reading some. Big hugs to you!
Cynthia- Thanks for sending me a picture from the pumpkin patch. You have a cute class.

Feeling much better today

Yesterday was a rough day. I was running a 102 temp most of the day and Tylenol wasn't helping. All day I had the chills, aches and shakes. I felt terrible. This was the worst I have felt ever. All I wanted was for my fever to break. They eventually had to give me ice packs to try to cool me down. I don't think that helped much, but finally last night the Tylenol worked and my temp was down to 98.7. I was so happy to see that number. That was the lowest it had been all day. I had more energy last night and I got out of bed and mom and I walked around the floor for a few minutes. I actually slept thru the night! I am still running a low grade fever, but the Tylenol is working. I am about to get a blood transfusion and I always get Tylenol and benadryl with that. I think after the transfusion I should feel much better and have more energy.