Day 41- I just Love the SON

I was able to go to all of church today for the first time in almost 3 months. It was great to be able to feel of the spirit there; even though Lizzie is at the age where she doesn't want to stay still or sleep.

I was also able to wear my fake eye lashes. I'm actually getting a little better at putting them on. I wore them on Thursday and I didn't do such a great job of putting the eye liner on first, I never really used eye liner before now. I felt a little bit more myself with the fake eye lashes on and stuff on my eye brows; since when I look in the mirror now I have to do a double take each time since I look so different. I think my whole family is more use to the way I look right now then I am. That's okay since I can see a little bit of hair growing on my head. Right now it seems a little light, hopefully it will be red or brown and not grey.

Day 36 - An x-ray just for kicks

Today I had to go in to get a chest x-ray because I got the cold that the kids had. It went to my chest and I have been coughing for the last couple of days so yesterday I called the transplant nurses and they told me I needed to come in to Fort Collins or Denver today to get a x-ray and see the doctor just in case. So it was off to Fort Collins.

My chest was clear and my white blood cell count was up to 3.4, almost normal range. My platelets were up to 126. Dr. Kanard said that since my count was up I can try to wear fake eye lashes since I only have a few of my own left. I feel much better since I got some sleep last night.

I have a date set to get my first and last port out (Sept. 9th) and another meeting with Dr. Kanard scheduled. I am very excited to get the port out because at the beginning Lisa, Dr. Kanard's assistant said it was the final stage. I was suppose to get it out in March before we got the news about the Hodgkin's. So let's hope it's coming out this time.

Day 35 - Not a easy day to strive

Day 35 wasn't such a good day. Our cute little dog Dee Dee was having problems for the past 2 months or so. Sunday night she was having more problems then normal. When we were going to bed Derek went to look for her and she was in the basement against the wall struggling to breath. He brought her upstairs and she was not doing to well so he took her to an emergency vet. They did an x-ray of her chest and found a lot of small tumors in her chest. Derek brought her home at 2:30 a.m. The next morning we had to put her down. It was heartbreaking seeing Derek and her looking at each other. He had her for 9 years, if not longer. She was a wonderful pet.

Day 33 - Without Drugs, where would I be?

I'm sorry that I haven't written in a week, . It's been eventful and then again it hasn't. All of the kids got colds after Sunday; so Thursday my throat started hurting and I started sneezing and coughing. So now I have an achy cold; hopefully it won't last long. It seems like the rest of them are getting over it quickly. I went to the boys preschool to meet their new teacher and she seems fine with them starting in the middle of September.

Day 26 - Getting back into the mix

We did a lot today. Derek's sister Lacey got married in Utah on Wednesday his family came back on Thursday night. His sister came back with them from California with her 2 daughters until tonight. So, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for brunch and went to the butterfly pavilion in the afternoon and then out to eat for dinner. I pretty much stayed in the area with Rosie the tarantula and we tried to go to dinner before the rush. It's hard to try to get back to normal, but remember that you still have restrictions. I'll have to upload some pictures later.

Day 25 - So GLAD to be ALIVE

Since I am home and at my computer, I thought I would post the pictures that Derek took of me (and my bald self) and my nurses. The first is my nurse Penny, who gave me all the wonderful advise; and made the Chemo less horrible. The second is Nancy, who was my nurse the following week after the transplant. They were both wonderful!

Day 24 - watch me soar

So my platelets were lower than before at 118 and my wbc was 2.3 so both Deliese and Monica were close. McSweeny said that my body is trying to make an equilibrium. It looks like everything is still going well as long as I don't catch any bugs. I have an appointment with Dr. Kanard in two weeks so it will take that long before I know the status of my white blood cells.

Day 23 - It's fun to be me

I forgot to write yesterday, I guess that's how good I'm doing. We went to the pool since I can't stand staying in the house. Tomorrow I will go to the doctor again but in Fort Collins. Hopefully my counts will be higher. If you want to guess what my white blood count will be tomorrow or my platelets make a comment. I think I will guess my wbc will be 2.1 and my platelets will be 174. It's funny since my family has guessing games like this for what the new baby will look like.

My eyelashes are down to about 10 lashes an eye. The hair on my head seemed like it was starting to grow but that new growth went away. So it will probably be another 2 weeks until I get some growth again.

Day 22 - Why feel blue?

Day 21 - almost done

..well kinda. We're waiting in the little room again this morning for Dr. McSweeny. We will find out soon what my CBC is and see if my white blood cell count is over 3.5, which is the minimal of the normal range.

Not there yet. Actually my white blood cell count dropped to 1.8. Dr. McSweeny said that it will drop down because my platelets are being made and I am not getting the shots that produces more white blood cells. So it might be 3 or 4 more weeks before my count comes back up to the normal range. It will be a year before it all goes back to my normal.

Day 20 - Blessings are plenty

Derek and my mom are at church right now with the kids. I actually got to put a barrette in Lizzie's hair. It hard to know that I can't go with them. It's been 3 weeks already since I've been able to go. The young men in our ward are going to bring the sacrament to me after church. I've always wondered what happens when they bring sacrament to the sick, I guess it's neat to find out.

So to go along with my mantra we've had many blessings through out this year. Many of our blessings have come from the hands of our friends and family. I know that my family and I have been carried through this. I have seen what a blessing it is to have such a wonderful family. I hope that I never take them for granted.

Day 19 - More cool than James Dean

I'm still doing well. Hopefully that will mean that Monday I will have a higher white blood cell count. I actually took the boys by myself to the park this morning. We watched a crop duster near our house. Derek had to take Lizzie to the doctor again because she still is having the rash that they thought was bed bugs. We are changing our detergent to see if that is it. She hasn't had yellow dye since we assumed that it was the culprit. I might even give her a diet of only one food a week. Lets just hope that it is the detergent.

Day 18 - A real spider bite would be mean

I took off the bandage today from the catheter. It looks a little gross. The boys have gotten all of the spider books from the library in the last week and we have read each one a number of times. Derek also saw a video with the boys of a brown recluse spider's bite. It looks just like that; yet there are two wounds. It also looks like I could have been bitten by a vampire. At least my "tentacles" are gone; that's what the catheter reminded me of, octopus tentacles.

Day 17 - Thanks to all those who came to clean

Just so you know the house looks wonderful; even with 3 boys and a baby living in it for a week. My neighbor, Ger and her daughter Helen were here when we got home and they were putting balloons on the kitchen chair and a cake on the table. I got a feeling for the way life use to be before the transplant. My mom went to the store for about 4 hours in the middle of the day, so I had all three kids to myself. It was a lot like the chemo cycles I had after the first mass was found. I am just happy to be home.

Day 16 - Exit Queen

Penny came up with the day's mantra. I had the line taken out at 8 and went in early to do my exit interview. The P.A., Trudy, said I am doing very well. I might get more fatigued later and there is a chance that I could get some kind of other cough or shortness of breath, I should be use to that, right. If it happens all I have to do is get more steroids and it should go away. Hopefully it won't happen though. I also should be able to eat pretty normal just carefully, and I can some what clean my house. Anyway, she cleared me to go home; so, we went home around 2:30. It's so nice to be home.

Day 15 - Like Monk, my hands I clean

We decided last night not to go to the butterfly pavilion today since the biosphere where the butterflies are is 80% humidity and I can't be in a green house or anything that humid because I could develop pneumonia from it. So instead we got the boys excited about the aquarium. They had sharks and otters and you could pet stingrays. There was one section of the aquarium that was a tropical rain forest, that was humid, so I almost ran through it. I also gave the boys squirts of hand sanitizer almost every 15 minutes. They had fun though and that's what matters.

Day 14 - Day 14, Feeling more healthy than a salad green.

Deliese needs to be credited again for all of the recent mantras. Today I went in to the clinic for 1 1/2 hours to get the CBC and talk to Dr. Brunvand. He got it scheduled to get my Central Line Catheter out on Wednesday morning before my exit interview. I am so looking forward to going home on Wednesday. The boys have really been enjoying the pool; but it is so hard to keep them quiet in the apartment; and Lizzie is worse then them. Tomorrow hopefully we can take them to the Butterfly pavilion to see Rosie the Tarantula; if we go when it is the least crowed I don't have to wear a mask. The boys got almost all of the books about spiders at the library; so they are really into it right now.

Day 13 - Speedin' along like Lightning McQueen

No clinic today. It's so nice just to be in the apartment without having to have an iv drip. We sang all of the articles of Faith with the boys and other church songs since we could go to church today. My cousin Nina is coming to visit again this afternoon and my mom just got here to help out. When she got here Derek and I put on the hospital masks and made her do it. She didn't want to put it on her nose so it made it really funny and I couldn't help but tell her it was a joke. She asked how we keep the masks on the boys.
I just want to say, thank you again for all of your continued thoughts and prayers. I know that many of you are fasting for me today and I want you to know how much I really appreciate it. It has been so much easier going through this with the knowledge that I have of the gospel.

Day 12 - Into my future I delve

12 is a hard number to rhyme with, luckily Deliese came up with this one again. Today I only had to go in for a CBC and a shot at 8 am. I asked to take a potassium pill for the first time instead of being there for 2 hours to get an iv of it. They don't usually let the patients take the pills for fear of it being so big and it upsetting your stomach, but hey it saves you 2 hours! It wasn't that large or upsetting.

Day 11 - Seeing my kids is heaven

I feel great today!!! Derek and the kids are coming down and I got my discharge papers. I will be meeting with the PA on Wednesday and then hopefully I can go home and come back down to see McSweeny on Monday morning. He has next week off for vacation so I can't meet with him sooner. I get to stop the iv drips tonight; and since it is so hot outside Derek can enjoy the apartment as cool as he wants it because we don't have to pay the energy bill. Right now I have more energy than I thought I would. So things are looking up.