Back in Hospital...

Back in for one more round. This will be the last round before my
blood is collected in a week or two and frozen for the "rescue" as
part of the transplant.. Will write more soon..

REMISSION!

Sorry for the lack of blog updates. I still don't have Internet
service but should next week. I have been doing good...

I got the offical news today that I am in REMISSION. No signs of
cancer. This is the best news I could ever hear, but comes as no
surprise to me.

I will be admitted to the hospital again Friday for about a week. More
chemo. Then the transplant (and high dose chemo) takes place end of
September. I hope to be back to Atlanta and work by January. Let me
tell you, I am looking forward to a long, happy prosperous life.

Why more chemo when all the cancer is gone? Because EVERY CELL needs
to be killed off so I never deal with this again.

For those of you who have reached out by email, or called, or snail
mail--you have proved yourself as true friends and I am very thankful
to have such cool, caring people in my life.

Maybe I can do a video while in the hospital-- hopefully will have
Internet soon..

In the meantime, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. You just
watch me, because my life is getting ready to take off.. Actually, it
already is....

Doctors continue to tell me they have never seen a patient with
recurrent burkitt's doing as well as I am...

Getting Better/New Address

Sorry for the delay. And no video this time, I don't have much time to post this...

Last week I was in the hospital and the second round kicked me pretty hard. My main problem was the headaches--I had one that lasted about 6 days and it was terrible. My other problem was general brain fog from chemo and kind of being confused/not able to communicate well. But these are slowly passing. And again, I can't really complain considering all the things I could be experiencing... My mom came to town last week and will be leaving tomorrow but it's been nice having here here with me.

Then today, was moving day, as I finally have an apartment that I will live in until treatment is up. For those who want my new address, send me an email and I'll be happy to pass it on.

The new place doesn't have high-speed Internet yet, but hopefully will in a few days...

Please continue to pray for me, as I am doing very well overall, but still getting over these last treatments. My next doc appointment is Thursday (just to check blood counts) and then next Thursday, I will have another CT and PET scan to see if I am in remission. 

If I can go into the stem cell transplant (probably around September) cancer free, this greatly improves my long term prognosis.

Back from Hospital...

Back from my second stay at the hospital. I tried to do a video but I need to clean up the hard drive on my computer so I have more space.

From a medical perspective, I am doing great. My blood counts are good and everything is about as good as it can be.

But I will make no lies. I know I will feel better in a few days, but I feel very run down now. It's as if I drank some bleach and it needs to get out of my system. I did finally eat solid food today--and it had been since Tuesday.

The big problem I am having now is with brain fog. I can't think clearly and sometimes it's hard to communicate. I'll write more in the coming days when I feel more coherent.

"Excellent" Prognosis for left hand..

I'm feeling pretty bad from all this chemo in my system. Good news is
I am done for today and tomorrow is the last day. I should get out
Friday.

I just had 2 neurologists and 4 students come to my room. The doc said
I have an "excellent" prognosis for full recovery of my left hand. He
said the average time is 1 inch for every month. Since the pic line
was placed near my bicep, he's thinking it will realistically take
9-10 months to get full feeling back. They said that they can give me
medicine for it but the side effects are not good so I am probably
better to just ride it out unless I start experiencing pain.

I have no appetite at this point...

2nd day in/cycle 2

Here I am after having 3 chemo drugs--4 hours of nonstop drip. I had
to shave my head and now my scruff is falling out. I haven't been
clean- shaven in more than 3 years.

I don't feel good, but not bad considering all things.

Hurricanes at the hospital...

Day 2 in the hospital. The staffing here has been working long hours,
but the hurricane headed towards Houston turned into a tropical storm
and just gave a little rain.

Kind of the story of my life. I seem to have bad things come my way
but somehow find a way to dodge the bullet. My doctor told me
yesterday she has never seen anyone with recurrent burkitt's doing as
good as I am doing and with such limited disease to start with.

I much rather be enjoying my life instead of stuck in this hospital,
but I'm finding ways to be thankful despite it all...

I passed...

I passed my test to properly change the dressing on my central line and to flush it. It's a bit of an annoyance, but not too bad. I now know the difference between "sterile" and "clean." Big difference. It takes about 20-30 minutes to do. 

They will put in a different one when I have the stem cell transplant and I am already looking forward to being central-line free once I am done with all of this. :-)

I'm back in the hospital Monday for 5 days.