Saturday, October 27, 2007

Prayers are answered!

Well, I had a CAT scan on the 19th, and the doctor says he can't find any cancer! There are a couple of blobs on the scan, but he thinks they're scar tissue from the biopsy. I'm struggling with the pneumonia (which shows up on the scan like a mutant spider web)which means I cough everytime I move or talk.
Dr. V sent me to Barnes Hospital to talk to the people there about a bone marrow/stem cell transplant. The verdict is, not now. Dr. W at Barnes was very nice, but very matter-of-fact. This cancer is not curable. It will return, and the only thing chemo/Rituxin/stem cell transplants will do is prolong the return. He did say that a transplant from a donor would cure it...if I survive the transplant, which there's a 25% chance mortality during the procedure. Yikes. And the best chance is to get stem cells from a sibling. Well, I have the sister that was in prison last time I heard, and the brother who knows where that is bipolar. Lovely chances. Adoptees really suck in the family health department.
I really am grateful for the quick healing, and thank you all for praying for me. I just think of the chemo...and think of going through this over and over again.... It's a little on the daunting side. No. It's a LOT on the daunting side.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I'm not lost in space...just ran out of gas

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. I'm sorry for all of you who've been waiting for updates. Pretty much same old, same old. I did have a rough bout with neuropathy in my fingertips and feet, so Dr. V took me off one of my chemo drugs, Vincristine, and that is thankfully, now better. On the God is good side, I took my last chemo of this cycle on Monday, and am now just swimming through the shakes, the sweats, the nerves, etc. on my way out to normalcy. I have a CAT scan on the 19th that I covet your prayers for, as Dr. V has told me that if he sees a "speck" of cancer, I'm headed to Barnes for a bone marrow transplant.
I must admit, I'm very leery of being shut up in a hospital room 3 hours away from my family for at least A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!! Can I take my sewing machine, my fabric stash, my beading boxes, my cross-stitch, my books, my Christmas yo-yo projects???
I'm also feeling like an old car, since the verdict on my anemia is that I'm "a couple of pints low" on hemoglobin. Apparently 10W40 won't cut it. So they're giving me lovely shots that sting like the dickens to pump up my production of red blood cells.
I've done a lot of reading lately -- finished Harry Turtledove's alternate history of Southern Victory (11 books in all, thank you very much) and picking up George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire again after Gracie the Rottweiler ate the first two books. Beaded two Christmasy memory wire bracelets tonight, and finished a lavender and gold necklace. Need to go shopping for some antique gold/copper necklace findings, but they're scarce around here. Probably will have to wait to go back to Fire Mountain. I would love to have a holiday/Christmas jewelry show...but I'm not sure I have the gumption left to put anything together. Have to leave that in the Father's hands.