World traveler

SO much to tell, oh boy...

Friday, Sept 14th. 8:30 am My friends, Annalise and Casey, picked me up from the Airport in St. Louis. I flew in the morning to my favorite city and SURPRISED MY FRIENDS! NO ONE KNEW I WAS COMING!!! It was such a perfect, great, amazing weekend, and being back at school felt right. I didn't want to leave on Sunday, but unfortunately, I had to leave even earlier than expected. The one problem with going to St. Louis this last weekend was that I was Neutropenic going in, and of course, developed a fever Sunday morning. Crying and panicked, I called my parents and had the best friends I could ask for surrounding me packing my things and brainstorming what to do about this fever. Greg, Charlie, Alex, Ali and Hannah all hoped in the car, took me to the airport and stayed on the phone with the airline to try and secure me a seat on the earlier flight. I got one, thanks to my wonderful friends, and went to the clinic with my mom straight from the airport.

I ended up being in the hospital Sunday night through Saturday morning for a "fever neutropenia" admission. It was a CRAZY week, and it all started with a fever. Thankfully, that fever did get me to the hospital because my counts were so low on Sunday, my doctors, my parents and I were shocked. These numbers were so low, the lowest they've ever been, they made my physically sick. Constant headaches, vomiting, passing out, and exhaustion made for an uncomfortable stay. On top of that, the reason I got a fever in the first place was because I had two blisters on my toes that ALTHOUGH COVERED WITH NEOSPORIN, STILL got infected. I had red lines going from my toes up my foot and leg so I was immediately put on five different IV antibiotics. On top of that, Monday morning, a week after my last dose of chemo, mouth sores came on super fast. They were so awful, I wasn't eating and couldn't drink much because I was in so much pain. To help with the constant pain, the worst it's been since before surgery, I was put on a morphine drip and pump which definitely helped. Part of the Once all these problems were "under control" my criteria for discharge from the hospital was to have some positive numbers in my ANC to see that my immune system was improving. To help with this, I would get a daily dose of neupogin, a medicine that helps jump start your bone marrow in producing white blood cells. Unfortunately, I was at 0.00 for about 5 days and required 6 transfusions to help my body feel better and start making white blood cells and boost my ANC. I had three blood transfusions, and three transfusions of just platelets. They doubled and tripled my dosage of neupogin and FINALLY slowly but surely I started to feel better.

This was such a hard week for me mentally because I want to be done with this and I was frustrated that little blisters caused my admission. Normally, anyone can get blisters, but because I didn't have an immune system, my body couldn't handle any little germs. I was also anxious and nervous because my beautiful cousin Bianca got married this past weekend in Seattle where my mom's side of the family lives. My mom left on Tuesday to be out there for the wedding and help Bianca prepare. My dad, Kenz, Joe and I had tickets to leave friday morning for Seattle but because of my immune system still being at 0.00, I had to stay at the hospital. Being in the hospital friday was weird because it hit me that I didn't even have family in town and I was upset thinking I was going to miss Bianca's wedding. I prayed, had some visitors that cheered me up, and my doctors and nurses all crossed their fingers that maybe I would be able to go Saturday morning. I owe everything to my team of doctors who bent over backwards to re-work their whole plan of care to try and get me on a plane Saturday morning. With a blood draw at midnight that showed a little improvement, I got a platelet transfusion at 3 am, an extra dose of neupogin around 4:30 am, and at 6 am, I was disconnected from that horrible IV pole and was able to hop in the car with my neighbors at 6:30 at the hospital and they took me to the airport! I got on an 8:30 flight and had to wear a mask because I still had virtually no immune system, but the stares and weird looks are so worth me getting to go. I am so incredibly grateful I was there to see my cousin get married to Casey. The ceremony was beautiful, and being in Seattle was such a blessing. I loved it. 

(Masked on the plane...get your laughs out hehe)

We got home on Monday afternoon and for the third time, I went from the airport straight back to the doctor for a check up. Surprising my doctors, I came back with counts that were almost back to "normal" which was great and I was definitely feeling better. SO glad my week from hell was over. I am still on antibiotics and was supposed to start chemo today, but we are giving my toes a few more days of my antibiotics and rest to make sure they are healed before my counts get knocked down again Friday.

I have 6 more weeks (5 more chemo treatments) left until this is O-V-E-R! Boy the day can't come soon enough. Although, based on last week, it will most likely be longer than 6 weeks. My bone marrow has now had over 25 weeks of treatment so it is not regenerating as fast anymore, it's tired. I've learned in this past week to focus on the present and not to get ahead of myself. Going one day at a time is all I can ask for. Family and good friends got me through the week and I am so glad to have them in my life, they help me through every challenge. A couple shout outs and prayers go to my STRONG friends also fighting this awful battle; Luci, PJ, Mikaela, my newly diagnosed KD sister, Sarah, and Ashly having her surgery tomorrow! LOVE and PRAYERS to all of you! A shout out to my new team of Saintsations I had the pleasure of meeting via skype, can't wait to really meet all of you! Lastly, shout out to ANYONE in need of a prayer today, sending you all positive thoughts and well wishes, thank you for continuing to support me and my family through this battle.

XOXO 

Em