Monday 4/11/2016

The Fun Stuff...My Mom made a trip from Ohio and is here through April 12 staying with my cousin Mark and his wife Karen as I continue to recover in the hospital (yep,back in the hospital).  Jim, Emma, my Mom and I were joined by my nurse Julie on Sunday April 10 for a lovely mass here on the campus of Beth Israel Deaconess.  My family was joined by Aunt Debbie (Mom's sister) in the afternoon for a pizza party.  Throughout the last several weeks I've been in the hospital more than home and very grateful for your visits, cards, prayers and meals for Jim/Emma.  Not sure when I'll be discharged home this time around.  Waiting for a good showing of healthy cell growth in the marrow which has just started.

Medical Summary:  An interesting couple of weeks and apologies for the delay in the blog update.  On balance good news but it took 2 hospital admissions, one trip to the ICU, a late night visit for a CAT scan and another 5 day course of chemo to get here.  Bottom line...I had another round of chemo starting March 4th and am just now starting to recover with a growing immune system showing signs of good health.  Some other things thrown in for good measure some of which was a bit scary - read on if you are so inclined

Details:  .

2/25/16 - 3/11/2016 Admitted to Hospital with fevers and dehydration; received antibiotics and fluids.  Began a new but previously scheduled chemo regimen during this hospital stay.  The chemo was 3 types given over a 5 day cycle commonly referred to as MEC (the acronym for the chemo drug names). In hospital for a little over 2 weeks.

3/11/2016 - 3/20/2016 Discharged and home approx 9 days

3/20/16 - Present readmitted to hospital on Sunday 3/20.  Still in the hospital approx 3 weeks later and not sure when I'll be discharged.  Since being readmitted my Mom arrived and has been here for a week (4/6 - 4/12).  While it has been a wonderful visit with my Mom, it has not been without it's challenges.  Prior to my Mom arriving I made a trip to the ICU which was a bit scary - very low blood pressure they did not feel they could control on my normal hospital floor.  Also made a trip for a late night CAT scan as I started talking crazy talk (how they could differentiate Moe speak from crazy talk l will probably  never know :)

Now for the good news - I am showing signs of recovery from the chemo - basically the chemo wipes out my marrow in the hopes that the marrow regenerates and starts producing a whole new healthy immune system/healthy blood cells.  This is exactly what has happened with my neutrophils (disease fighting white blood cells) going up!   While I remain neutropenic (still  not able to fully fight infections on my own as my white blood cells grow) I am getting stronger every day.

That's it for now - thanks for checking in.
Love, Maureen