Bone marrow biospy and PET scan

   Both went well. The PET scan was very simple and the bone marrow biopsy was very painful (which I completely expected). I came home around 3 P.M. yesterday and have been taking it easy since. I've been in a lot of pain at the puncture site in my hip and still am this morning which is normal.  Plus, I haven't been able to be around the kids until today because of the glucose radiation I was injected with for the scan. I'm planning on taking it easy today and I'll post more of an update later on about exactly how everything went.

Relay weekend and such...

  The Relay for Life was great! I had a good time and it was for such a great cause. : ) I plan on posting pictures in the next few days from it.


 Tomorrow I'll be having a bone marrow biopsy and a PET scan done. I won't be sedated like with my second bone marrow biopsy in January and I'm terrified of the pain (my first one right after being diagnosed was terrible, I remember every second of it and my second one was not near as bad since I was sedated). And after the PET scan I can't be around the kids for 12 hours due to the radioactive therapy I'll be receiving. It's definitely going to be a long day. And have I mentioned I'm nervous?? Long day ahead...


  I'm going to attempt at going to bed early tonight.

Please say a little prayer for me for tomorrow. Thank you.


Love, Kim

Almost Friday!

     I'm SO looking forward to The Relay for Life on Friday. I keep hearing about how emotional the whole experience will be for me and for everyone else involved.

The weather is supposed to be perfect and *fingers crossed* the forecast stays that way.

One more day and I'll be wearing my purple shirt! : )

Long day!

 I'm exhausted. Plain and simple.

I had an appt. at Dr. V's for bloodwork at 10 o'clock and then my appt. with him. Everything went good. : ) My hemoglobin has gone down to a 10 but still looks good. For the next cycle coming up not too much will change. Starting today I will go 3 weeks without chemo so I'm going to get a little bit of a break. The way Dr. V talked I'll be continuing this process for another 4-5 months just to make sure the Leukemia stays away and I continue to stay in remission. But here is what my upcoming schedule will look like...

6/28 @ 10:45  Bone Marrow Biopsy
6/28 @ Noon  PET Scan
7/1   @ 2:00  Echocardiogram at Methodist
7/12 @ 8:00  Bloodwork, Appt. with Dr. Vukov, chemo
7/12 @ Noon  Spinal Tap at Methodist (7th)

After getting out of my appointment today I came home and as soon as I pulled in the driveway I remembered I forgot to have them de-access my port (take the needle out). Obviously it didn't hurt for me since I forgot about it. Then I ate lunch, and afterwards met my friend Amber at Hobby Lobby. She's so crafty and creative and I wanted the kids to each have a special shirt to wear this coming Friday for The Relay for Life so I bought materials and she's making them up this week. I can't wait to see the shirts! After that I headed back over to Peoria to have my port de-accessed and then came back to Pekin and met Justin for dinner at Goodfellas' and then we picked up our shirts for Friday. We picked up the kids from daycare and came home and they had dinner and then got ready for bed. Long day and all four of us are exhausted.


Will post more in a few days. Off to bed now. Good Night. : )

New Pictures!

     These silly kiddo's sure know how to make their MaMa and DaDa smile! : )

 

Notice Connor in the background laying on top of our cat Tigger? Silly boy! And I love Aly giggling at them! 

Aly getting ready to leave for Tot Soccer!

 Big Blue Eyes : )

And he's off...doesn't sit still for a second!



*I'm sorry for the watermarks, but when it comes to pictures of the kids I'm just being cautious with having a public blog.*

Great appointment!

    Yesterday was my appt. at the oncologist's office and chemo afterwards. I've lost 4 lbs. since my last visit but everything went great. I saw the Nurse Practitioner Deb and love her! She came in and said she had to do a double take when my counts came back at 11.2 for my hemoglobin and 220 for my platelets. She then went and looked at the computer and said the entire time I've been in treatment my hemoglobin has never been that high! Great news! I haven't seen my doctor last couple visits because he's been out of town and they do not have my next treatment plan lined up yet so I'll find out more when I go back on the 21st.

My neuropathy is back and bothering me pretty bad. Especially so in my fingertips. I'm keeping this blog short tonight because it's so bad, I'm hoping it lets up soon though.

Things are going great and I'm so incredibly thankful.

Finally a new post!

 Finally a new post… I’m sorry for the lack of updates recently. It’s seems like we’ve just been so busy lately.

Let’s see where I left off…

 On Friday June 3^rd I had my regular appt. and chemo. I saw a Nurse Practitioner that day and my hemoglobin was 7.1. I felt fine but my NP was concerned (they recommend getting a transfusion at an 8). She knows I always go to Methodist but that they do not like doing a type and cross and transfusion on the same day there. Finally she agreed to let me go ahead and just have the type and cross done that day after my spinal tap and I would go in first thing Monday morning for the blood transfusion.

 After my chemo there we left and went to Methodist for the spinal tap. Like the others I’ve had, they let Justin stay in there until right before they start the procedure. He left the room and I laid on the surgical table waiting for Dr. Namaslaski (I know I’m spelling his name wrong) and I was so nervous on top of being exhausted and ended up falling asleep on the table. Normally the doctor will come right in but this time he got caught in a surgery so after being asleep for awhile my nurse Dana came in and woke me and told me it would be just a little bit longer. No idea how in the world I slept in there. You should have seen the position they had me in on that table! From my 2 epidurals when having the kids and the 5 previous spinal taps I’ve had they had a pretty hard time getting my back numb. Finally it was numb and Dr. N started the procedure. It went just fine and afterwards I went to recovery for an hour to lay still on my back. Afterwards we stopped and picked up Chili’s to go and went home and I rested for the rest of the day. I was so worried I would end up with a headache from it and so I did all I could to try and prevent it.

Saturday morning we woke up and went over to Jon and Lisa’s for a pool party and to grill out. It was a really nice day!

Monday morning we woke up and got the kids ready for daycare. Justin always goes with me when I have to go to the hospital for transfusions to keep me company since I’m there for hours. We got the kids ready and I walked down the stairs and into our laundry room to grab something and I thought I was going to pass out – literally. I saw black spots and started sweating profusely and it took all I had in me to make it back to the stairs to sit down. I felt awful. I sat there for a little bit and then ended up getting sick. Over and over again. Finally I made it out to the car, we dropped the kids off, and then we went and had my port accessed at Dr. Vukov’s and then off to Methodist. I was feeling so bad I even had a hard time walking and needed a wheel chair. I just can’t get over how bad I felt. After spending about 6 hours at Methodist we left and came home. Later that day I felt great from getting the much needed blood!  

The week went by pretty quick. I worked on laundry and tried to get some stuff accomplished around the house. I ran some errands and felt pretty good. On Thursday Justin mentioned to me that Wednesday had been 6 months since my diagnosis. I didn’t even think about it on Wednesday. It’s been a long 6 months but I’m very thankful to be where I am today.

So today is Saturday. We woke up and it was gloomy out. We had plans to go to the Turkey Festival in Tremont and I was worried it would rain and we were going to miss out. After the kids taking naps the sun came out and we headed out. We met up with Jon, Lisa, and Olivia and had a great time. The girls went on some kids rides together and had so much fun. And Connor just watched from the stroller. We enjoyed turkey and strawberry shortcake and just had a great day.

Tomorrow we’re finally celebrating Connor turning two. We’re having a very small get together but it’s important we celebrate our sweet boy turning two!

Monday I have chemo again and an appt. with a NP. I plan on discussing my neuropathy with her, it’s been really bad all week. Especially in my fingers and it’s all due to the chemo drug Vincristine. This will also be my last chemo in this cycle. I’m not sure what my next cycle will consist of yet. I’ll find out soon though. In the middle of this month I do know I will have a bone marrow biopsy – I’m very nervous about that but trying to keep it off my mind for now.

Off to bed now. Busy day tomorrow!

Needing to vent.

         Yesterday afternoon Justin picked the kids up from daycare and came home. He said Aly had another bad day (fits, acting out, refusing to be quiet during rest time, and so on). He said she kept saying she wanted to go back to Hobby Horse. Oh, how I miss Hobby Horse preschool. I so wish there was a way we could have kept her in there instead of pulling her out like we did in December and putting both kids in daycare. We had no choice. I went from being a full time stay at home Mommy and Wife to a cancer patient and our lives being flipped completely upside down. I beat myself up so bad about this when I know they say everything happens for a reason. I just hate the fact that Aly has missed out on so much there. I loved her teacher, the school, everything. Aly mentioned a couple of weeks ago out of the blue that she was getting dressed and going to "Hobby Force" and like I said, it was completely out of the blue, and I just lost it. I cried. I teared up and didn't want her to see me and only being 4, she wouldn't understand why Mommy was crying. So I went to the bathroom and bawled. All over my baby not being in preschool. Then she mentioned it again yesterday to Justin. I know he feels bad also about her not being happy and wanting to go back there. But there is nothing we can do right now since it's summer break.

I've stayed in contact with her teachers there and they are saving her a spot this coming Fall and that makes me feel so good. They have said they would save her a spot since we had to pull her out. I just love this preschool. So I need to get the admission fee check sent off soon. If there is a will there is a way she will go. Just at the time it wasn't an option for her to stay enrolled there, we didn't know what all was going on with my health.

I just needed to vent.

I guess we can say this will be my emotional day this week. Aly has tot soccer and pictures tonight. I was hoping they would be held outside but it's pouring down rain here.

Tomorrow I have my appt. with Dr. Vukov, chemo, and my spinal tap at Methodist. Praying for an easy day!