Round 3 Begins

Sorry to not be very active on the blog lately.  Since they have let me go home more I have found that I am on computers less....:)  This is a good thing.  Mom and I drove back up to Richmond this morning and I started my third round of Vidaza chemo today.

The last week was very nice with Thanksgiving holiday and my oldest brother John still in town from Australia.  He and Brant took a couple of turns driving me up an back to Richmond for clinic repletions, so Mom was actually able to stay back home for almost two weeks. And I have only spent a few nights in Richmond over the last few weeks.

What we have been up to:  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal over at my parents house.  We got our family pictures back from the photographer and she did a nice job.  I will try to post a few here before too long, but many of you have already seen them on Facebook.  I was home long enough for the kids to complain about my nagging (ah...normalcy!).  I have enjoyed sleeping in my own bed!! We got the Christmas tree down and put up (a pre-lit variety) but not quite decorated yet. We had homemade pizza night with after dinner music from Chris and Katie as our send off to Uncle John.  In short, it has been a very nice week.

Now for the boring medical stuff.  My energy level and appetite dropped this last week.  I am hopeful that another round of Vidaza and a DLI will pick me back up to where I was at in mid-November.  Also plaguing me with severe pain this last week is an issue not nice for discussion on a public blog, but it starts with a big ol' H and many women deal with them during/after pregnancy.  I myself have never endured this pain before and am not happy about it being thrown into the mix.  Especially since my platelets are so low that they are limited in what procedures they will even try.  I actually got a script for pain meds (something I have only taken a few times in the hospital) and have been trying everything they suggest.  But so far, no improvement.

And that is also the story for my blood counts, no improvement.  Kind of depressing but not unexpected.  The Vidaza is very slow acting.  I had hoped to get some biopsy news today but with the holidays things are slow.  I will meet with Dr. Chung and talk about results and treatment options next week.  If we need to switch to something more intense, it would be nice to wait until after the holidays.  I could get used to this little one week of treatment and 3 weeks mostly at home to recover.  But with cancer, waiting is not always an option.  We have some names of Leukemia specialists at both Duke and Johns Hopkins and may take some time in December to discuss my case and treatment options with them.

I hope everyone is getting ready for a fabulous holiday season. My hope is that you will put spending good times with your family and friends ahead of the shopping and decorating and chaos that the retail world strongly suggests we must do for a "successful;" holiday.  Each day holds so many little blessings but they are easy to miss....  so take time to notice them.