Friday

I love Fridays. They've always been my favorite day because I get a whole weekend to enjoy with those I love. If only my dearest would lose his cold! Oh well, I wanted to update again today because I have dial-up working at the moment and I have cool stuff to say.

My doctor came in this morning and said my blood work today looked really good (they draw blood every morning around 4 a.m. -- I'm getting to where I can sleep through it). My platelets were above 50,000 which he said is unheard of, and he has no idea why they would be so high. I told him lots of people are praying for me. My iron was back up due to the transfusions and my white count is back up to 500, a 25% increase from yesterday. That's basically unheard of and "absolutely incredible." He also said that in the 35+ years he's been practicing he has never had a patient need so few transfusions at this point. Thank you for your prayers, God hears them!

My genetic testing came back. They didn't say exactly which subtype I have. The test showed that I don't have any of the faulty chromosomes that are high risk, so my prognosis is excellent and I have hope to see my 30th birthday.

I have to tell you about one of my nurses, Nancy. She's actually my night nurse tonight, and she's been coming in to check on me even when she's not assigned to me. She is THE go-to person and always makes me laugh. So far she's been able to get me a fan, which has aided in the hot fever moments. My IV machine required unplugging from the other side of the room everytime I had to go to the bathroom so she found a power-strip/extension for me. That was a lifesaver, especially once the chemo side effects reared their ugly head. She found us bottles and formula for Gary one day when his were left at home by accident, and last night she came in to say hi and noticed the bulletin board in my room was covered with cards. We've been taping them to the walls, but the tape isn't holding well, and it's been a constant re-taping session. So she decided I needed another bulletin board, and what do you know, within about 1/2 hour I had a maintainance man in here hanging a bulletin board. I told her she's the best! My doctor was on top of things and got the busted light cover fixed in my room. I've discovered he's a perfectionist. The other day he came in and there was a string hanging on my blanket (I have my 20 year old "teddy bear blanket" here with me). He stopped mid-sentence, pulled out scissors, cut it off, said, "There, that's better" and picked up where he left off. Humor is such a gift.

Overall today has been a good day. Lunch was rough -- the best option on the menu was chicken fried steak. I think I need to have a talk with the nutrition staff here. They have stuff on the menu like battered shrimp and creole gumbo. I don't know about you, but first of all I'd never order either of those from a cafeteria and second of all, MOST people in the hospital are sick and probably not craving sea food. There's always chicken noodle soup, but I've had about enough of that. Chemo makes your taste buds work really well, and the normally salt-craving me now finds it rather repulsive. I never thought the day would come when I wouldn't want to eat french fries! My appetite is still seriously lacking, so that's still an area of prayer.

Oh, I found out if my results come back clean on Monday (actually I won't have the results until Tuesday or Wednesday) I can go home as long as my white blood count is above 1000 (I'm halfway there) and my platelets are above 50,000 (I'm already there!). And no fevers. :-) I'll still have a weakened immune system, but if I promise not to go to the mall I guess they're o.k. with letting me walk out of here. I haven't been outside of my room for over 10 days so I'm looking forward to it. And I can't wait to see my baby...it's been a few days now. I miss the little guy.

Love you all!