Update

First, Wednesday marked my second week of receiving chemo. My doctor performed a bone marrow aspiration to see how I’m responding to treatment. When I first arrived at St. Jude, I had 68% leukemia cells in my marrow. By now my doctor hoped that I would be fewer than 1% leukemia cells. To decide the percentage, they first look at my marrow under a microscope. Under the microscope, they can see cells if they are greater than 5%. They were able to detect 13%. This was somewhat expected seeing my past history for being resistant to respond. Next week they are going to increase the chemo load and try something more intense. I need 0.5% to go to transplant, which is still feasible.

On another note, I finally got a blood transfusion! For the past couple days, I’ve been so exhausted. I wake up, sit on the couch, barely get ready for the day, go to the hospital and come home to lounge around. My sweet mom has had to do so much for me because I physically can’t do anything. I’ve been dehydrated, so it made my hemoglobin (what gives you your energy) looks higher, thus not qualifying me for a transfusion. I was convinced my hemoglobin was not high and needed blood. So, they sent me home on fluids for 2 days, and yesterday my labs showed that my hemoglobin had dropped. I’ve never been so happy to receive blood. Thursday, I woke up feeling great, was able to get stuff done, and feel accomplished!

In addition to all that, yesterday was the first day that I didn’t have to go to the hospital for anything! They give me a ton of chemo on Wednesday, so I get the entire weekend to rest. I still had to go in today(Friday) for labs, a check-up, and receive more blood. At least I had a day off and felt great! On my day off, I was quite content staying at home and getting caught up on life. However, since moms always know best, she decided we needed to get outside. Most days we are in the hospital and don’t see the “real world” until night. Also, once I start transplant, I will be in isolation for 6 weeks. Due to my low resistance to infection, I had to go somewhere outdoors and not in a crowded. So, we went goofy golfing. Various recreational places in the area offer free admission to St. Jude patients. It was nice to get out, drive around, and do something different than go to the hospital. I enjoyed my day free of driving to the hospital!