LAST TREATMENT!!!! :D

I'm all done!  I had my last treatment on Tuesday (Dec 20)!  My platelets actually weren't high enough, they were 68, but Dr. Harker said he didn't want to wait any longer so we went ahead and did it anyway!  Thank goodness too, because I wanted to be done by Christmas!  BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!!! I actually might feel a little crummy on Christmas, but at least now I can say that this is the last time I won't feel good from chemo.  It's all up hill from here!  UCS also gave me some Martinelli's sparkling apple cider as a congratulations, so that was nice :)  My sister and I toasted to me being done when I got home :)

I will keep everyone updated still on how this last cycle goes with my counts and transfusions and everything, and I'll also post the results from the last pet scan I'll be getting on Dec 30.  Cross your fingers (and pray) that it will be 100% clean!  Also.........I'm so excited for my hair to start growing back!!!  I'll definitely be posting pictures when I have something to show! 

Thanks everyone for helping me get through with all of your prayers, love and support!  I love you!

 

This is the bell at UCS that you get to ring after you've had your last treatment and everyone cheers for you! 

I rang it so hard it came off of the wall!!! (excited much? lol)

Typical

Alright, so I was supposed to get my last treatment yesterday, but of course that didn't happen lol.  I'm so used to it by now it doesn't even bother me anymore :)  Anyway, my platelets went down from 80 last Friday to 61 yesterday morning.  Dr. Harker said, "Celeste, I do not understand your body...."  haha  I love how I still surprise him even though I always do this dance.  In other words, I'm consistent with myself, just not with everybody else lol.  So we'll try treatment again next Tuesday.

Meanwhile......my hematocrit was low (25), so they FINALLY decided to give me some blood!  I've been feeling lightheaded for the past week, so it was nice that Dr. Harker finally signed two transfusion orders.  So my mom and I went to IMC to type and cross for my blood orders.  But then we had a few hours to kill before they would receive the blood from Red Cross.  Hmmmm.....whatever were we going to do with all that time........go to the movies!!!  haha We went to Sandy Movies 9 and saw The Help.  Good movie!  I recommend it!  So then we went back to IMC and I got my blood, and my mom and I took a nap on our favorite bed in our favorite room and I watched part of The Grinch with Jim Carey.  It was great :)  And thanks to the blood I am feeling much better today. 

I'll let you all know how next week goes.  Thanks for all of your support and prayers!

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

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!

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.

Day to Day

Well, nothing really exciting to report.  Thursday I announced that I made gluten free waffles that tasted like cardboard.  My sister Heather said, "What? I thought they were really good!"  And then she realized that they just tasted like cardboard to ME because I had "chemo mouth".  The chemo just makes everything taste sort of like metal and not very appetizing for a while.  The good news is that it doesn't last more than about 5 days for me usually, so things are already starting to taste normal to me again :)  But hey, it's an ok sacrifice considering that the chemo is working so well!  If I stay on schedule (which I should because Dr. Harker is keeping me on anti-viral medication which should help my platelets from plummeting due to a virus last round), then my last treatment will be on December 6th! 

Of course, I still may be having a bone marrow transplant, but we won't know any details on that till I meet with the specialists in a week or so.  My platelets were 33 yesterday, when they're usually about 14 or lower at this point in my cycle, so that's definitely a good sign with the spleen.  At least we're no longer looking at a spleenectomy.  Surgery in the middle of this probably wouldn't be very fun.

Last week was very busy for me, I went to the Autumn Concert at the Tabernacle by the Orchestra at Temple Square.  They played Mahler and the Passion among other things.  It was so beautiful!  And President Uchtdorf was there too, so it was neat to see him from a distance.  Also last week I went the the Utah Music Therapy Association Conference, and it was so delightful to see all of my friends from school and to meet some new faces!  And last but not least, I played at my cousin's wedding reception last night.  It was so beautiful!  Congrats!  So my days are filled with family and friends and enjoying my beautiful room and working on my cross stitch :)  It's a wonderful life!  I know it's not Christmas yet, but I just get so excited this time of year.  I think we could all just skip Halloween and go straight to Thanksgiving and Christmas.  In any case.....Happy Halloween everyone!

Chemo today

Celeste's platelets are 96 this morning! This means we are staying for chemotherapy today.

Bonemarrow specialists from LDS hospital will contact us to start process of determining if Celeste is a good candidate for transplant.