The Next Step

The picture is of the roses and calla lilies that Mrs. Bauer sent to me during my last inpatient stay. They were so beautiful and made my stay here a bit more pleasant. Not to mention I got a million compliments on them! Thanks Mom B - you are an angel.

This week has been mostly non eventful so far. My latest 'fun' side effect of my chemotherapy is that my eyelashes are falling out. Did you know that they really do play an important roll in your life? They keep dust and stuff out of your eyes. Well with the lack of them and the remaining ones falling into my eyes, I look like I've been on a crying jag - and I haven't! So they started some eye drops for me today and so far its been better - so I am not winking at you --- its the lack of eyelashes :)

Well onto the topic of this post. My next step. I found out recently that my next step is to have my stem cells collected. I was surprised that it was happening so soon but at the same time if this is the time and it moves things forward to being in remission quicker... bring it on. So I got the low down on the procedure and I'm a bit more nervous about this then I have been at anything else they've thrown my way.

I will be discharged from the hospital for this cycle tomorrow, Friday. On Monday I start daily Neupogen injections. These are given to stimulate your bone marrow to produce stem cells. Normally I get one injection of a drug like this to stimulate my bone marrow to make cells and I suffer from bone marrow pain for two days. So getting it daily makes me think there is going to be a lot of bone marrow pain in my future and that prospect is daunting.

The next step which starts the following Monday is the actual stem cell collection. Anita will bring me to the clinic at 7:15am and I will have a blood test done to see where my stem cell levels are. If they have achieved the desired level I then get to go to my favorite place in the whole world --- Interventional Radiology -- to have a central line placed. They use this line to collect the stem cells. Its called apheresis, and its a lot like dialysis... the take blood out slow and filter the cells they want out and then give me the rest back... so I get an in and out kind of set up! This goes on daily for up to six days. I won't have to be there that early every day at least but it will be five hour days.

Side effects of that are being really tired and sometimes needed blood and platelet transfusions. I also cant drive that week at all. So I will be asking my friendly chauffeurs for their help. I think my rides in, in the mornings are covered by Anita and Cyndee but there will be afternoons that I will be begging rides home. Thanks everyone for always being so willing to help.

The week after that I will get a PET scan and the doctor will decide at that point if we go ahead with the transplant or if I need some more chemo first. But any way I look at that I'm getting an extra week off between treatments so I'm taking that as a good thing! I have to take the good things where I can.

So there we are people. I'm a wee bit apprehensive about the next steps. I worry, I feel guilty that I'm not more "here" for my family. But we will get throught it and I know that our friends and family are always there for us.

AND as a final note... Hey Sarah... I beat you in a new post girl! Come on... lets see it... post baby post!

My Head

So first and foremost a big thank you to all of you who purchased skullcaps for me and those who took the time to knit me some hats. My head is well covered and I have more choices then you could imagine. Some people have asked for a fashion show but I don't think I could do that here. I have toooo many skull caps to show them all. I will include some pictures that we've taken of the booty.

This is how I've been storing them for easy 'choosing'. I have a skullcap for every mood. Some more amusing then others. Some people went with the more elegant look. Some for fun. And some for the shock value. I love them all. I took a bunch of them to my family gathering for Easter and somehow I convinced all of the adults to try one on and we took a group picture which I will share with you as well.

I love the knitted hats too. So I have a hat for every mood. Friends from every where have sent things and I was astounded! Anita, Hannah and I loved opening the packages and seeing what people chose to dress up my head. So again thank you everyone for the outpouring of support in the form of head gear for me!

This is the picture of the family in the head gear with me... Even got Memer'e and Peper'e in there with us. And Clemmentine and Tucker. I have a great family who was willing to help me show off some of the skullcaps. Clicking on the pictures gets you a larger view so you can see more details.

So now for the update. I'm here in the hospital for round 3 of chemo and so far things are going okay. I got started very late on my drugs which will make my week a day longer. This did not make me happy. I also have a double room and I miss my privacy. Its not awful but it makes for tougher going through the day. The drugs and I are getting along okay. I really hate the way the steroids make me feel but without them the chemo drugs would be making me much sicker. So I guess I have to suck it up.

Anita and Hannah will be in to visit me later and will bring me dinner. The food here isn't terrible but food from the outside sounds good today. Thanks for all your well wishes and cards. And thank you to Mrs. Bauer who sent me the most beautiful flower arrangement. I would send you a picture along here but I have no camera with me here. Either way they are stunning.