Wednesday, November 30, 2011

5 down, 1 to go!!!

I had my 5th treatment last Tuesday.  That was the first time since the beginning of treatments that I only had 4 weeks in between cycles instead of 5 lol.  So it was still postponed a little, but hey, I'll take what I can get!  Last week I did pretty good while I was on the prednisone (gotta love steroids!), and then on Sunday, like usual, it hit.  I had a nose bleed that took me over 2 hours to stop.  Stupid platelets!  So lo and behold when I went in to UCS on Monday to get a CBC my platelets were at 2. No surprises there lol.  So I got a transfusion.  As usual.  Then I wasn't supposed to go in again until today (Wednesday) but I got another nosebleed on Tuesday.  Did a CBC at the hospital: platelets were 3.  So I got another transfusion.  The good news is......I didn't get a nosebleed today!!!!! haha.  I've also been a little more nautious than usual the past few days, but it's starting to get better so no worries :)  The only thing that's driving me nuts right now is that my mom has me quarantined in my room and will only let me go out if I wear a mask because half of my family is sick and my white blood cell count is really low right now from the chemo. Good thing I have a TV (thank you Uncle Doug) and lots of books lol.  

So despite everything I just said, (lol) I really am doing well.  I'm looking forward to only having one treatment left and to be able to stop fighting this platelet battle.  Although, I am going to miss the nurses at the transfusion center! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers!  It really is helping me get better! :)

Much love,

Celeste

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Sorry!

Sorry everyone for keeping you hanging for the past couple weeks!  Mostly I just have good news.  I went to see the bone marrow specialists last Wednesday, and it looks like I won't be going in that direction unless the cancer comes back within the next 5 years.  Phew!  I also found out during the consultation that although my second bone marrow biopsy showed the same "peculiar abnormalities" in my marrow, there were less of them!  I don't know why no one had told us that before!  So they'll do another biopsy after I'm done with treatments and there might not be any more of the abnormalities.  Who knows!  Pray hard!  The best thing that I walked away with from that visit is that they want me to see an Immunologist to see if there is some underlying problem to the illnesses that I keep getting so that maybe I can get some help there.  They decided this because they looked at ALL of my medical history and noted that since I got mono when I was 16, I have had several illnesses.  Walking pneumonia, shingles, whooping cough, epstein barr virus (EBV), and now lymphoma.  We're going to try to get some answers!  Wahoo!

So I was supposed to have my 5th chemotherapy treatment yesterday.  Didn't happen.  Surprise surprise.  My platelets were up to 61 last Monday and yesterday they had dropped to 30.  Oh well.  Not as bad as less than one!  lol.  My hematocrit was also low, so I got 2 blood transfusions.  So I'm having more energy today!  I didn't feel very good yesterday after the transfusions though, and I think it's because they didn't give me benedril to help with the effects.  They usually give me tylenol AND benedril for transfusions, but for some reason Dr. Harker had crossed off benedril on my transfusion order.  I'll have to ask him about that because usually I take transfusions very well, but yesterday I didn't.  Anyway, all is well and we'll try chemotherapy again next Tuesday.  Here's a fun picture of me watching the blood slowly move through the tube into my port.  I was so excited to get it!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Oh Transfusions, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

So.....two days ago my platelets were less then 1.  LESS than 1!!  I think that's as close to 0 as I can get.....the nurse had to run my blood SIX times cause nothing was even showing up....barely detectable.  But again, thank goodness for transfusions.  Thanks to all who donate.  I need your beautiful platelets!  I went back for another CBC today, and they gave me 2 more transfusions.  But at least my platelets were higher: 11.  The good news is that I didn't need any blood transfusions!  I'm doing much better than Monday and Tuesday in any case.  My tummy is giving me a little more grief than usual, I think I caught something that my sister had.  But at least it's not unbearable, and it shouldn't last long.

I talked to this sweet young lady today while I was at IMC getting my transfusions.  She was there to get her first chemo treatment for Breast Cancer.  She's only 29 years old, is married and has a little 3 year old girl.  Poor thing....she looked so terrified.  I know it was nice for me to be able to talk to people who could explain things in a different way than doctors could cause they had actually experienced it, so I hope I was able to help her some.  So if you need someone else to pray for too, there you go! :)

Ok, so I know it's not Halloween anymore, but my mom bought this a couple weeks ago
and hung it on my door and I just think it's hilarious!  ALL of my siblings thought it was real and 
were totally grossed out.  hehehehe.