04/21/2011

Barf...for someone who hates writing I sure do a lot of it. I had a paper to write today. I have another one tomorrow. And I'm pretty much sick of charting at work too. I'm pretty tired...so today I'm having a mental pity party for myself. Tomorrow is another day, so I'm making the most out of it today :-)

Well moving onto bigger and better things. Jeremie is still home and doing pretty good. When you compare Jeremie to other cancer patients going through what he is, he is doing pretty good compared to that scale. When compared to the rest of us, he is doing pretty crappy. On paper he looks amazing! His white blood cell counts are normal. His neutrophil counts are normal. His platelets are at 101,000 (normal 150-450,000) so he is just about there. Monday his hematocrit was at 24.0, but we re-did his labs on Wednesday and they had increased to 26.4 on their own. So his bone marrow is just trying so hard!

He had a transfusion yesterday, even though he was above the threshold (which is 24). But he had been feeling dizzy and lightheaded when he was trying to stand up and walk. So they went ahead and transfused 2 units of blood. We also did it here (St. George) just in case his hematocrit dropped lower than 24 while we are in Salt Lake. It takes between 4-5 hours to complete a blood transfusion for 2 units.

Jeremie has been experiencing low grade fevers for the past several days. Unfortunately we pushed things pretty hard this last weekend. He wanted to try and go to Village Inn (he ate Rice Crispies! Grrrr...I buy Rice Crispies by the gross..I'm a little tight with money...seriously need to learn to say NO to that man!). Then on Sunday he ran to Home Depot with me (I needed to replace my dryer vent). Then we hung out a MeMe and PePe's that night and he sat up at the dining room table for several hours. Usually you think that wouldn't be a big deal. But Jeremie literally was laying down for 6 solid weeks. His muscles throughout his body have atrophied (shrunk). So sitting up, is quite a work out for him. Then Monday we spent...literally...three hours at the opthamologists office! Three hours!!!! Three hours!!! (Oh and he has dry eyes that are causing excessive tearing. Probably because of damage to tear producing cells from radiation. Possibly will heal on their own, possibly not. He was prescribed some eye drops, and they are working well.) And he had spent an hour at the infusion clinic that day as well. Tuesday we had an appointment with the oncologist here. Wednesday he spent the day at the infusion clinic getting blood. So needless to say, Jeremie has had a very active and busy couple of days. We are thinking (hoping) the low grade fevers are because of all this activity.

Meanwhile this is such fun with five little monster children, a full-time job, oh and I'm trying to finish my stinking Master's program!!!! Ugh...seriously...do you know what I want to do? I just want to play in my yard. I want to pull my weeds. Then I want to come in and re-organize my laundry room and house. Then I want to take a couple hour nap and eat. And maybe find a little time to have a real good cry, have a migraine, and take two days to get over it. Ah well...just feeling a bit on the whiny side today. I need to re-find my center. I keep trying to remember all my blessings, and all the things I'm grateful for. Because there are so many! Just have to keep it pulled together for a bit longer.

Even though I'm swimming in my little pity party for myself today. I'm so excited for the future. I'm so excited that Jeremie is doing well (albeit, I'm always a nervous wreck anticipating the worst all the time), I love the opportunity I have everyday to learn. I love my school. I love my sweet children and want to give them everything. And I love the opportunity I have to pick weeds at my house.

Well I hope all I have to report over the next several forever is that Jeremie continues to grow strong, continues to stay in remission, and continues to heal. Please continue your prayers, good thoughts, good vibes and good energies. They are healing him/us...I KNOW IT! Thank you so much! And Aunt Rexann, thank you so much for keeping him in the Temple :-)

Love to all,

Cori