Post-5, Pre-6 Update

My apologies for not updating the blog sooner. Lots going on!

The good news is that I was not hospitalized during round 5. It was a close call. On Tuesday afternoon of nadir week (week of March 14), I could feel myself sliding down into the pit. It's strange how I can begin the day feeling relatively normal, and the in the space of a few hours, feel my energy drain away, the fatigue creep up, and the generally lousy feeling descend.

I was down all day Wednesday. I kept a close eye on my temperature, and while it was elevated,  during the day it didn't get too high. But by Wednesday evening, it crept up higher and almost crossed the threshold that sends me to the hospital. Wednesday night was a restless, uncomfortable night. Thursday I was down but my temperature was OK. By Thursday night I started to feel a bit better, and by Friday I continued to improve. Again, I could almost feel my bone marrow pumping out white blood cells and fighting off infection. The mouth sores this time weren't quite as intense and were much more manageable. Through the weekend, I continued to improve and entered this past week feeling pretty good.

This past week (week of March 21) was spring break in Oregon. Our family went to Seattle on Tuesday for three nights and had a great trip. I had blood work done on Monday before we left and got a call from the nurse saying my red cells were low. They wanted me to get another transfusion, but there was no way it could happen before we were planning to hit the road. Because I was feeling OK and didn't have any symptoms of low hemoglobin, they somewhat reluctantly cleared me to go without the transfusion. And so we headed off to Seattle on Tuesday morning. It was so refreshing to be out of our house where I spend so much time these days, out of Tigard, and in a new place. I almost forgot I have cancer and am undergoing chemotherapy. I needed that break from my life, and it came at a good time.

Now I am anticipating round 6 of chemo...the final round! As always, I really don't want to do it. But knowing it's the last time I have to go through it all definitely makes it easier. I have another MRI and CT scheduled for mid-April followed by appointments with my medical oncologist and the surgeon to talk about what comes next.

The stack of cards I have received from so many people continues to grow. Thank you for praying for me and for all of your support and encouragement!