Some Girls Prefer Carnations: Things just got serious

Friday, May 16, 2014

Things just got serious

This is just a quick update, dictated to my phone, with the results of my appointment today. The new chemotherapy drugs have really taken a toll on my immune system. This explains my extreme fatigue this week, and why "turning the corner" has remained elusive. For the first time in my history of receiving chemotherapy, I am neutropenic. My white counts are merely 1000. This means that I could get an infection very, very easily, and that an infection could kill me. As a result I am starting a course of prophylactic antibiotics, throwing out all fresh flowers, and turning away all unnecessary visitors. It also means that it is in my best interest to skip my daughters' public, germy gymnastic show tomorrow.

Boo! Shit just got real! And I don't like it!

I will have my blood work done again on Monday, and hopefully I'm significantly better. I guess I'll be needing a new recovery/family/work-life balance protocol for next week. I'm in uncharted territory for sure.

In other news, how cool is it that I dictated this whole thing to my phone while lying on the couch? Thanks, iPhone!

9 comments:

PatMay 16, 2014 at 9:18 PM
Hang in there and remind those microbes that you're their friend!
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URODMay 17, 2014 at 4:10 PM
Beaky, what is this life without a few waves? We are wrapping our loving arms around you to squeeze the cancer out and give new life to your ever lovin WBCs!!! Your boat will float again soon and you will be on top of of the world. Wait, did I just cop a Leonardo cheap one? Uncles are good for that I guess. We love you and your resolve...you give us sooooo much strength girl, but try and save some for you :)
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UnknownMay 17, 2014 at 7:54 PM
HANG TOUGH Heather, this too will pass. I had several weeks of really low WBCs and couldn't get my weekly chemo (I also had your previous double hitter - carboplatin and paxitaxol after a severe anaphylaxis with taxotere).
It is scary when they tell you to hole up and try not to expose yourself to sickness or to too many folks in public places. Gives you WAY too much time to think! I know you have this, Heather, and in a week or two you'll be back having an IV steroid cocktail that'll keep you up all night, in preparation for your next round of chemo. Just glad you squeezed Disney World in before neutrophil hit. Sending you love and smiles. Kristi
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URODMay 17, 2014 at 11:42 PM
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=koABatPqvB4
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URODMay 17, 2014 at 11:43 PM
This comment has been removed by the author.
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DadMay 18, 2014 at 7:29 AM
Well, I'm no expert here but I do know of this occuring in other cancer survivors...even being done intentionally in a controlled environment - ie hospital. It is serious and ditto to what Kristi G says above! We shall comply with Dr O's orders & I'm glad you are able to stay at home. Lean heavy on your family support network. In times like these I say TGTF...Thank God There's Facebook.
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AnonymousMay 19, 2014 at 10:05 AM
Hey Heather this is your cousin Lauren :) (I had to make this blog for a school project). Just wanted to say I love you a lot!! I'm selling bracelets at school to help you and a ton of people have been giving me orders! :) Love you tons!!!!! :) :) :) :)
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Poway CleanersAugust 17, 2022 at 2:03 AM
Appreciate thhis blog post
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Books I've read recently

TRUTH AND BEAUTY by Ann Patchett "'Grief isn't something to "be gotten through." It has no life of its own like that, it's just plain and simply there.'" and "History is strangely incomprehensible when you're standing in the middle of it."
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THE LACUNA by Barbara Kingsolver "'Soli, let me tell you. The most important thing about a person is always the thing you don't know.'"
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FACE by Lucy Grealy "Sooner or later we all have to learn the words with which to name our own private losses..." and "Part of the job of being human is to consistently underestimate our effect on other people..." and "Sometimes the briefest moments capture us, force us to take them in, and demand that we live the rest of our lives in reference to them."
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sarah Gruen "Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently spreads cancer throughout your spouse."
THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett "'I have decided not to die.'" and "Oh, I just break down then. It's like two years a doing and trying and hoping all come out at once."
THE TENNIS PARTNER by Abraham Verghese "Would that I had the chance in my sons' lifetime and my own to one day explain to them all the forces that moved me."
THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison "And then the tears rushed down his cheeks, to make a bouquet under his chin."
REMARKABLE CREATURES by Tracy Chevalier "My life led up to that moment, then led away again, like the tide making its highest mark on the beach and then retreating."
RAMONA QUIMBY, AGE 8 by Beverly Cleary "Mrs. Quimby smiled and said, 'I can tell you're beginning to get well when you act like a wounded tiger.'"
THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway "You see, Mr. Barnes, it is because I have lived so very much that now I can enjoy everything so well."
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THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins "Of course, the odds have not been very dependable of late."
THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot "That cancer was a terrible thing."
THE THIEF OF ALWAYS by Clive Barker "Was there some way...to take back the stolen years, and live them here, with the people who loved him, and whom he loved dearly in return?"
CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese "The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not." Best book I've read in a year

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Friday, May 16, 2014

Things just got serious

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