Break Time - Feeling Better

Well, my counts are recovering quite nicely.  Here I am in all my glory, not a bad head if I must say so .  And the wig thing, not so bad, its warm.  I only have to go for lab work every other day now and hopefully I will get the line removed next week!  Then the bone marrow biopsy on Nov 3rd will show if the transplant was successful or not.  So I will close until then, than you all for following my progress.  I will update with the final results when I have them, hoping its smooth sailing until then.......

Released but not relieved

They let me out of the hospital on Sunday, mostly because I started telling all the nurses I was going home, there was only one that challenged me with "only if the doctor says so". I had had enough, 5 nights, I was hungry and tired and just wanted to get home. My throat had recovered and I was no longer coughing up blood but the diarrhea persisted. No fever and my counts were on the rise. The doctor said I was borderline on platelets but since I had an appointment at the day hospital the next day he would let me go, like I planned. It was such a great feeling getting out and into to the fresh air. So today I returned to the day hospital and all was good except for the platelets, so they infused a bag of platelets, takes about an hour and a half to get the iv that looks like brown sugar and I was on my way. I did get a few nasty bruises over the past couple days and this is what happens when you don't have enough brown sugar! So, all is good, only one hurling episode today but the imodium ad is not working and the head is quite sore but it's good to be home and I actually have tomorrow off from the infusion lab as long as I don't get a fever I am good. So perhaps I can get the camera out for a good head shot and try on my new wig my good friend got for me!!!

Time for a hat!!!

Well, it's Saturday and I am still here at Hershey Med, maybe getting out tomorrow but not 100 percent sure, will see what the night brings. It's been a rough couple of days with little sleep. The throat issue seems to have resolved itself, I can now drink and have managed to eat some ice cream and jello without hurling. They are still giving me my meds via IV so I know I cannot go home until I am able to take them orally, think I will ask for the next round straight up. I also woke up about 5:30am with a really bad case of diarrhea, to replace the throat issue. They seem to think the chemo is just causing a stink the whole way thru my body so hopefully it ends with this. Stomach cramps have been pretty bad and I have got to change my outfit at least 5 or 6 times today! And then there's the hair, the moment I have been waiting for, the hair is coming out like crazy. I left quite a bit of it in the shower today but still sporting a bunch, I think I will sit here for the next hour or so and just run my fingerstru it to get it over with....it's everywhere.....pics next week. Well, it's a beautiful day out and I hope you all enjoy it, by the time I get out there I will definitely need a hat!!!!

Chemo Effects

I would say today has been the worse day so far, and it's a day that has not ended yet!  We were waiting most of the day for the pharmacy to produce Majic Mouthwash, it was going to be used to numb my throat so I could maybe swallow something.  I have had a burning sensation in my throat and esophagus, like really bad heartburn just higher.  Then I  began throwing up blood.  The first I noticed it, the nurse thought it was my black cherry soda I had just taken a sip of but I knew I had barely had enough in my mouth to cover my tounge but there was other liquids mixed in  so it was pretty faint looking for blood.  Later I was  asked to try and take one of my meds orally, all the others had been switched to IV except one ??? and I got about 1/4 of the tube in me, swallowed, then brought up some pretty red stuff. (not to be mistaken for Stewarts Black Cherry)  So the doc said I have mucositis from the chemo and they would need to give me some blood platelets which would help, but it heals by itself, like the infamous mouth sores.  So now it's 2am and I am getting the 2nd and last bag of platelets, all of my meds, some vitamin K and I think if I hit my pain med bottom on my iv I might get to sleep soon. Thankful that the fever has bot come back!!!!  
      

Fever.....

Tuesday,not such a good day. We make the trip over to Hershey and had an 8am Appt today. I let the doctor know that taking the medication is almost impossible. It makes me gag and I end up throwing everything up and also again about this burning in my throat. Alot of patients get mouth sores or ulcers, I have been gargling to avoid this but I think they have invaded my throat! After returning home and hurling a few times things got worse. I have to check my temperature often and cannot go over 100.4, and of course I went there. So, we called the doctor and with in an hour I was on my way to Hershey again, this time for admission. It's actually Wednesday now, mid afternoon and have to go, nurse here. Will update later hopefully

Day +6 After Transplant

Well, just waiting for the next step after the cell count levels out, time to grow new and cancer free cells. Everything has been pretty good, a bit of nauseau but got that under control with the drugs. Getting what seems to be a slight sore throat. It's Monday and they move forward bh injecting m e again with nuepegen, the growth shot. New bandage for my port, some shots blood, blood work, and still out if the day hospital in an hour!