On the Rise

It’s finally the weekend! Not that it really matters for me. Since I’m not working, every day just blends together….trust me, I rather be working. It gets very boring (even with Londynn keeping me entertained and smiling). I like to keep my mind busy and engaged, but I keep telling myself, it’s only temporary! This shall pass and I will eventually be back to my “normal” life. This weekend is Braxton’s last football game for the season, so he will be able to be around a lot more! For those that don’t know, he coaches football at a small college here in Atlanta. During the football season he is pretty much non-existent at home. He works 7 days a week (with long hours) so I am so excited that he will be finished with his busy time, and at home a lot more. He will also be able to come with me to the clinic….it’s the little things!

My clinic visit on Friday was a pretty good one. My white counts have finally recovered! They are back in the normal range. So I don’t have to wear a mask out in public anymore (not that I really even went out anywhere) and I don’t have to follow a neutropenic diet. It really isn’t that limiting so wasn’t that difficult to follow. The only thing I wasn’t able to eat while my white count was low was salads, raw veggies and fruit from anywhere other than home. At home, all fruits and raw veggies had to be washed very well. My platelets look as though they are on the rise. That’s what we are hoping anyway! They went up 5,000 between Wednesday and Friday, so I luckily didn’t need another transfusion. My blood counts seem to be holding steady, which hopefully means they will start going up as well. At least they aren’t dropping anymore.They have also cut back my clinic visits. My next one isn't until Tuesday! I have a bone marrow biopsy scheduled for Thursday. They need to check to see if I am remission or not. I just have this overwhelming feeling that I am. I just know it! I am still feeling great. Even though I am always tired, I somehow still have enough energy to keep up with my sweet baby. I am so thankful for that.

We found out that my sister is only a half match. The good news is that she is at least that because there was the chance that she wouldn’t have been a match at all. My parents are also automatically a half match, but they prefer my sister because of her age. So, at least I have a donor! They can do what’s called a haplo transplant. It is where they use the stem cells of a related donor who is a 50% match. It isn’t done everywhere, and I am so fortunate to be at a center who is experienced in doing them. In the past, and even currently at transplant centers that aren’t good at doing haplo transplants, the outcomes aren’t good.  At Northside Hospital, where I am getting treatment, their outcomes for haplo transplants are just as good as their full non related donor transplants. Some complications that can arise in any transplant include not engrafting (meaning the recipients body rejects the transplant) and Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD). GVHD happens when the newly transplanted donor cells don’t recognize its new environment and attack the recipient’s body. A lot of people will get rashes and skin changes, diarrhea, and other non serious things. There can also be serious complications with GVHD, but I haven’t really read up on those because I don’t want to freak myself out. In haplo transplants that aren’t done correctly, the risk of complications associated with GVHD are a lot higher than if you were to have received a full match, for obvious reasons. But when done correctly, the complications are not any different from someone who received stem cells from a full match donor. They are still doing a search on the national registry for 10/10 match for me, but have my sister to fall back on if they unsuccessful. They started the search this past week, so we will continue to patiently wait for news on that. It can take 6-8 weeks or longer to find a donor and get everything in place for a transplant. So the plan is for me to get another round of chemo (even if I am in remission) to avoid relapsing while I wait for my transplant. It delays things a bit, but I just do what my doctor tells me, and continue to keep my head up high! My situation is not ideal and frankly it really sucks, but life isn’t fair, and it could always be worse. It really could. I still have so many blessings that make this life so worth living even through all of this.

My hair finally started falling out, so my sweet husband shaved my head for me. I could have waited for it to just completely fall out, but it’s no fun to brush your hair when it’s coming out in chunks. It wasn’t a big deal for me this time around. I just said, time to shave my head, and we went along with our day. I’m not completely bald (yet). It’s short enough to look like I purposely cut my hair, but it’s continuing to fall out, especially in the shower. I’m ok with it though, because it WILL grow back!

Thank you all for continuing to follow my journey. My family and I are so grateful for the continuous support, prayers and thoughts! 

Playing with daddy's shirt

Beautiful flowers sent to me by my sister's coworkers and boss