Monday, May 19, 2008

day 5 (cont.)

first of all i'd like to thank EVERYONE for all your help. i was truly amazed by the ammount of support people have been giving me and my family, and it's only day 5. IHS people, cornell folks, waza gals, dream team members, scatico friends, SPDC goers, ex and present montessorians, etc... i had forgotten how many close friends i've made. so yeah, thanks.
anyway, because i posted early in the day, i figured i'd keep people updated. intense chemo starts tomorrow definately. my white blood cell count keeps fluccuating (i'm currently at about 103,000) and the doctors are closely monitoring my vitals and my blood for any spikes in WBCs (white blood cells).
i was informed today that the chances of attending clark u in the fall as i had intended are very unlikely at this point. i'll spend 3-6 weeks here in the hospital (most likely 4) and come home for two weeks. after the first few weeks in the hospital, the worst will be over, but i will have to come back for more chemo, this time much less intense.
as for today, it was pretty uneventful. i couldn't move around much because they have drawn so much blood from me in the past few days. after a shower in the morning, i became lightheaded and spent the rest of the day in bed. my picc IV bled out and had to be bandaged again... twice. i'm still having trouble with clotting. on the bright side, i now only have one IV sticking out of my body, which is a nice change.
the bruises on my left arm are now ridiculous. one bruise covers most of my forearm, and the worst bruise i can't even see. it's right behind my left knee and has caused my knee to swell up so that it's difficult to bend and move around. in a few days i expect it to grow and merge with another nearby bruise near my left knee. it sounds weird to say, but the bruises are actually kind of pretty. ha, i probably sound crazy saying that, but you'd never know that skin could turn pink, purple, blue, green, and yellow all within the area of a few inches. no, i haven't completely lost my mind... i don't think.
thanks again for all of the support and i'll try to keep everyone posted as much as i can. if i don't post as frequently anymore, blame the chemo.
much love,
marika

1 comment:

wendy botie said...

We are blessed to have a niece like you. With your strong will, you can absolutely defeat this desease. We love you, Uncle Paul and Aunt Wendy.