Hello Hello,
I came home from the hospital Sunday afternoon. My blood counts basically quadrupled overnight so they docs were ok with letting me go home. I was pretty happy, everything really starts to get old in there after a while. Monday I was able to get ouf of the house and walk over to Walgreens with the parents to pick up some meds. Nice little walk and the weather was nice too. My heal has been hurting me from all the walking I did in the hospital. Where your in there the give you a pair of socks with little grips on the bottom so you don't slip. No cushion at all. So I came back and started biking a little each day. Tuesday I did an easy half hour, just to spin the legs a little. Felt really good, easy on the heal too. After that my mom and I got out of the house to do some shopping. We went to coscto and jewel and loaded up on food. I have to say tho, this past week my appetite has changed. I guess i'm starting to feel more nauseas and full after eat. Kind of like if I don't stop eating now my stomach will explode. So I'm really trying to limit how much I'm eating during each meal. Yesterday I biked for 10 min in the morning, then 30 min later in the afternoon. Again, I ate way to much and felt biking was the only way to help...It did until dinner came.
Even tho my views on food have dramastically changed over the past week, the food channel is really the only thing I watch...It kind of makes me feel like some sort of addict. lol Well today is the last day I have to take that drug. Then I'm off it for 4 months I think. So starting tomorrow my appetite and everything else should start going back to normal. Thank god! I have outpatient chemo tomorrow at 11 but that hasn't given me any trouble yet. Side effects are just sore muscles and hair loss. I haven't lost my hair yet tho haha. The doctors find that pretty funny.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Updates
I figure it's time to update this...sorry for the delay, but there isn't to much to write about when your in the hospital all week.
Hmmm I came in at around 3am Sunday morning with a low grade fever and dizziness. Two days earlier on Friday, I went in for my outpatien chemo. The body's natural reaction to this type of chemo is to spark fevers so they told us don't be suprised if you come in with a fever. It's not always bad. Saturday I was fine, Sunday evening the temp started to go up so I called the doc and he told me to keep an eye on in it and if I start feeling crappy to call him back. I went to bed feeling fine, and sure enough I woke up around 2 am sweating and feeling dizzy. I woke up my mom and she took my temperature and it was 101. We called the doctor and told him my situation and he thought it'd be best for me to stop by the ER. Not the type of news I want to here at 2am knowing it's a 40 minute drive down there. I took my time packing and we ending up checking in at around 3am. The nurses there are really nice, the last time I went into the ER it was early in the morning and they were working. I got some blood drawn, saw of couple doctors, sat around for a while and finally got checked into a room around 6am.
This is where everything starts to get fuzzy. I checked in early Sunday morning, and I think it was later Sunday day the results came back from the blood that was drawn early in the morning. I had one blood infection. There was an in grown hair that got infected under my chin so I was put on antibiotics right away. I spent the whole day in my room, I didn't leave until 9pm haha and I was able to get a few laps in. But that was it I wasn't feeling up to anything else. Monday and Tuesday pretty much went the same way but I was starting to get my energy back. I was able to get out and walk a few times a day, but I was still having muscle aches. Pain killers have really help with that. They took more blood Tuesday and I found out later on I had another infection but this time it was in my picc line. That's the tube they inserted into my arm so they could easily take blood and give antibiotics without have to constantly poke me. We decided to get that pulled out. It was a weird feeling, I thought it would hurt but it didn't. It just felt like someone pulling a tube through my hands but this was up in my arm. I got to keep in too, it's in a jar. On Wednesday they decided to give me chemo two days early. I"m scheduled to get it every week on Friday, but they figured Wednesday would be better. So I got it then, and It went just fine. I haven't had any reactions to it. No fever, no nothing. Thurs and Fri were just repeats of the previous days. Me walking hours of the food channel and walking aimlessly in the halls.
I still haven't met anyone my age. I did shortly meet a kid a few years younger than me, and I've seen a few people around my age check into rooms but never leave. But oh well.
My dad switched spots with my mom today, and he brought a ton of food from home. The food here is really getting old. He also brought some sausage mcgriddles which really hit the spot. The docs think I should be out of here by Monday or Tuesday, we are just waiting for my counts to go up then I'm good to go.
Hmmm I came in at around 3am Sunday morning with a low grade fever and dizziness. Two days earlier on Friday, I went in for my outpatien chemo. The body's natural reaction to this type of chemo is to spark fevers so they told us don't be suprised if you come in with a fever. It's not always bad. Saturday I was fine, Sunday evening the temp started to go up so I called the doc and he told me to keep an eye on in it and if I start feeling crappy to call him back. I went to bed feeling fine, and sure enough I woke up around 2 am sweating and feeling dizzy. I woke up my mom and she took my temperature and it was 101. We called the doctor and told him my situation and he thought it'd be best for me to stop by the ER. Not the type of news I want to here at 2am knowing it's a 40 minute drive down there. I took my time packing and we ending up checking in at around 3am. The nurses there are really nice, the last time I went into the ER it was early in the morning and they were working. I got some blood drawn, saw of couple doctors, sat around for a while and finally got checked into a room around 6am.
This is where everything starts to get fuzzy. I checked in early Sunday morning, and I think it was later Sunday day the results came back from the blood that was drawn early in the morning. I had one blood infection. There was an in grown hair that got infected under my chin so I was put on antibiotics right away. I spent the whole day in my room, I didn't leave until 9pm haha and I was able to get a few laps in. But that was it I wasn't feeling up to anything else. Monday and Tuesday pretty much went the same way but I was starting to get my energy back. I was able to get out and walk a few times a day, but I was still having muscle aches. Pain killers have really help with that. They took more blood Tuesday and I found out later on I had another infection but this time it was in my picc line. That's the tube they inserted into my arm so they could easily take blood and give antibiotics without have to constantly poke me. We decided to get that pulled out. It was a weird feeling, I thought it would hurt but it didn't. It just felt like someone pulling a tube through my hands but this was up in my arm. I got to keep in too, it's in a jar. On Wednesday they decided to give me chemo two days early. I"m scheduled to get it every week on Friday, but they figured Wednesday would be better. So I got it then, and It went just fine. I haven't had any reactions to it. No fever, no nothing. Thurs and Fri were just repeats of the previous days. Me walking hours of the food channel and walking aimlessly in the halls.
I still haven't met anyone my age. I did shortly meet a kid a few years younger than me, and I've seen a few people around my age check into rooms but never leave. But oh well.
My dad switched spots with my mom today, and he brought a ton of food from home. The food here is really getting old. He also brought some sausage mcgriddles which really hit the spot. The docs think I should be out of here by Monday or Tuesday, we are just waiting for my counts to go up then I'm good to go.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
ER
I'm adding Insomnia to the list now. I mentioned in my previous post that my heartburn was getting pretty bad...I woke up around 130am with an esophogus screaming i'm on fire. Finally decided something had to be done, so I woke up my parents and they eventually called the doctor and he decided it'd be best I stop by the ER to get checked out. Midnight road trip down to the south side!! Wasn't very enjoyable, we got down there fast tho...Mother decided to drive, dad stayed home because of work. It took us a good 30 minutes to get there, and once we did everything went pretty smoothly....We were the only ones in the waiting room. They made the decisiton to put me in isolation, for heartburn?!? Yikess...Better safe than sorry I guess.
This is where one needs a lot of patience. I think I was put into my little isolation room at around 330am. From there it took about 30 min for a doc to show up...After that I had chest xray then more waiting...Finally I get results at 530am. What they decided to to was give me a stronger prescription for the heartburn. That really took a load off. When they have you waiting in there for so long, the whole "what if this" starts to creep into your head.
I was home by 830am. Running on a few hours of sleep we managed to stop by a mcdonalds to get some pancakes. Yes, light and fluffly they sat pretty well and put me into a wonderfull food coma once I arrived home. I slept like a baby. Felt super refreshed when I woke up around 1100am. By this time the hearburn was going away, eating was easiER. Still felt weird but the burning was gone...
I went out a few hours later with a buddy of mine for walk. Ahhh fresh air, got to clear the mind a bit. Think we did about a mile then headed over to IHOP for some more pancakes haha. Hey they are they only thing i can find that sits pretty well so why not??? So its 430am now, I'm tired, hungry, and been up since 2. Food sounds good right now....
ciao
This is where one needs a lot of patience. I think I was put into my little isolation room at around 330am. From there it took about 30 min for a doc to show up...After that I had chest xray then more waiting...Finally I get results at 530am. What they decided to to was give me a stronger prescription for the heartburn. That really took a load off. When they have you waiting in there for so long, the whole "what if this" starts to creep into your head.
I was home by 830am. Running on a few hours of sleep we managed to stop by a mcdonalds to get some pancakes. Yes, light and fluffly they sat pretty well and put me into a wonderfull food coma once I arrived home. I slept like a baby. Felt super refreshed when I woke up around 1100am. By this time the hearburn was going away, eating was easiER. Still felt weird but the burning was gone...
I went out a few hours later with a buddy of mine for walk. Ahhh fresh air, got to clear the mind a bit. Think we did about a mile then headed over to IHOP for some more pancakes haha. Hey they are they only thing i can find that sits pretty well so why not??? So its 430am now, I'm tired, hungry, and been up since 2. Food sounds good right now....
ciao
Monday, February 21, 2011
Weekend/start/no/school today
So I'm home, the last few days have kind of blurred together. Saturday was probably the worst day of the weekend...I think that's when the nurse came..not sure tho but she was nice. She showed us to to clean my PICC line and some basic check up stuffs. Think she'll be back tomorrow sometime to get some of my blood. 0_0.
The real question is how has my body been reacting to all this? Well I'm trying to figure that out myself. Depends on the day, but heartburn and fatigue have been a pretty big part of it. Saturday I was having a hard time eating but that seemed to have gone away. This really takes a lot of outta the lungs, i've been feelin winded lately too...I'm not miserable tho, I was able to get out of the house today for a bit which was pretty nice.
What's weird is even tho I'm not super hungry, i get these crazy cravings! Like the other night I had to have pizza. It couldn't be any old pizz tho, you know it's right in between deep dish and thin crust?? That's it! It hit the spot. And then I get this lazagna that is AmAzInG! So I'm eating that for breakfast lunch and dinner now. WOW. But aside from the cravings I'm trying to eat as much as I can..Losing weight is a no no right now. My dad got me these Ensure drinks with all kinds of vitamins and minerals with some added protein. Help keep the weight on and they taste pretty good too.
Maybe I'll go to school tomorrow, I need to talk with a few teachers and straighen some things out. Dropping a class is the last thing I should be doing but it'll have to be done. I just don't have the energy for it right now.
The real question is how has my body been reacting to all this? Well I'm trying to figure that out myself. Depends on the day, but heartburn and fatigue have been a pretty big part of it. Saturday I was having a hard time eating but that seemed to have gone away. This really takes a lot of outta the lungs, i've been feelin winded lately too...I'm not miserable tho, I was able to get out of the house today for a bit which was pretty nice.
What's weird is even tho I'm not super hungry, i get these crazy cravings! Like the other night I had to have pizza. It couldn't be any old pizz tho, you know it's right in between deep dish and thin crust?? That's it! It hit the spot. And then I get this lazagna that is AmAzInG! So I'm eating that for breakfast lunch and dinner now. WOW. But aside from the cravings I'm trying to eat as much as I can..Losing weight is a no no right now. My dad got me these Ensure drinks with all kinds of vitamins and minerals with some added protein. Help keep the weight on and they taste pretty good too.
Maybe I'll go to school tomorrow, I need to talk with a few teachers and straighen some things out. Dropping a class is the last thing I should be doing but it'll have to be done. I just don't have the energy for it right now.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 3 another round of chemo
I slept pretty well last night even tho I got 3 times. The last few nights were pretty late for me so I decided to get to bed early to be energized for this morning. I was feeling a little nauseous when I got up but I was able to force down a mighty mango naked drink, and a blueberry yogurt. The rest of the morning consisted of me just hanging out unitl chemo started at 10:30am. It lasted for an hour, and haven't had any side effects yet. The thought of poision being pumped into your body doesn't really sit well in the mind, but thankfully I had a tv to keep my mind off of it. My appetite has been down the last few days, and after talking to the dietician today she said I have to do my best to keep eating to avoid muscle loss.
Right now I'm under supervision to make sure I'm reacting to the chemo ok, I should be able to head home at around 1pm. My nurses and doctors have been great, they've helped me out so much. I'm glad i'll be able to get home.
Right now I'm under supervision to make sure I'm reacting to the chemo ok, I should be able to head home at around 1pm. My nurses and doctors have been great, they've helped me out so much. I'm glad i'll be able to get home.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 2
Last night was probably my worst night in the hospital, I think I woke up four times. I was naseaus all morning so I didn't eat until 12pm. The doctors said I responded really well to the chemo, that was good to hear. My nurse hooked me up for a blood transfusion and I ordered a belgian waffle with sausage which wasn't to bad. Soon after I found out my results from my first blood test after starting chemo. The leukemia cells had dropped dramstically, I was so excited. Today I got a break from chemo, but I still had other meds to take..Luckily no side effects from those.
I was able to get some walking in around 2pm in between my blood transfusions, I even got to step outside for a few minutes. Afterwards I cam in for my second transfusion for the day, the doctors are trying to boost my hemogloben ccounts before I go home tomorrow. Otherwise I've been laying in bed all day. I'm tired, and it's been a long week. Going home tomorrow will be great!
I was able to get some walking in around 2pm in between my blood transfusions, I even got to step outside for a few minutes. Afterwards I cam in for my second transfusion for the day, the doctors are trying to boost my hemogloben ccounts before I go home tomorrow. Otherwise I've been laying in bed all day. I'm tired, and it's been a long week. Going home tomorrow will be great!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Day 1: post chemo
After a blood/platelet transfusion, the time was 11:30am and I was headed down to get my first round of chemo thru and lumbar puncture. I chose to be knocked out because my back still didn't feel 100% after the LP I had on Saturday. One of the nurses told me I was recieving the same med that Michael Jackson Od'd on...That was nice to know.....It took me about 15 minutes to pass out and before I knew it I was awake. It felt like I was out for 5 minutes but it was really and hour. I was in a daze for about another hour and 2:30pm I was up and walking and was able to eat my first meal of the day.
I didn't get a lot of walking in today. Fatigue, and back pain were setting in so I decided to take a break and chill out in the room and wait until my seccond does of chemo at 6pm. The time finally came and watching the nurse walk in with her blue sterile scrubs is when it started to sink in. I was a little nervous, but reminded myself I had to stay strong and that this was only the first day. The chemo looked like Kool Aid, it was light in color and was given to me thru my PICC line. (A PICC line is an IV inserted thru the bicep into a vein and directed into the chest. This makes it's a lot easier for the nurses to draw blood and give the chemo). After an hour I was done, and I felt fine. I ordered dinner which consisted of chicken stir fry, a baked potato and grapes. After, I did some walking to make up for what I missed earlier. My back was sore but I didn't think about it to much. Managed to get a mile in and headed back to the room for the night.
I didn't get a lot of walking in today. Fatigue, and back pain were setting in so I decided to take a break and chill out in the room and wait until my seccond does of chemo at 6pm. The time finally came and watching the nurse walk in with her blue sterile scrubs is when it started to sink in. I was a little nervous, but reminded myself I had to stay strong and that this was only the first day. The chemo looked like Kool Aid, it was light in color and was given to me thru my PICC line. (A PICC line is an IV inserted thru the bicep into a vein and directed into the chest. This makes it's a lot easier for the nurses to draw blood and give the chemo). After an hour I was done, and I felt fine. I ordered dinner which consisted of chicken stir fry, a baked potato and grapes. After, I did some walking to make up for what I missed earlier. My back was sore but I didn't think about it to much. Managed to get a mile in and headed back to the room for the night.
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