Good News!

Today was the big day. I drove into Huntsman this morning with butterflies in my tummy hoping for good results from my bone marrow biopsy (but also knowing I was going to get poked which is getting harder to handle each time.) So after getting blood drawn and then anxiously waiting for awhile, the nurse came in and said the biopsy came back clear and my blood results show my body has recovered nicely. What a blessing! The last three days have been my best days so far and I feel really good. Just in time for my next round of chemo:) Not knowing quite what to expect, the nurse assured me that my side affects would be minimal based on how well I did the first round. I am praying for good things!!!!

So, to the Infusion room I went ready to have a picc line inserted and get my chemo meds. Well, no picc line and no chemo meds. I ended up getting just an IV line inserted and waiting 3 1/2 hours for my chemo medication. Come to find out they ran out and had to wait for the manufacturer to deliver more. After waiting 3 hours I was told they were en route from the airport. My first infusion experience was a little rocky but I was assured there was enough medicine to finish the week of chemo treatments. Tomorrow a picc line and 2nd day of chemo. After the 4 days of chemo this week I will feel the affects in 7-10 days but should be nothing more than fatigue. I will still need to be careful about germs and make sure I stay away from sickies. I will be driving to Huntsman every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for labs so they can watch my blood levels and how my body recovers. So everything that happened while I was in the hospital but I get to now do it outpatient and enjoy being at home. So grateful for that!

I have to share a fun little experience I had the Friday just before I was discharged from my hospital stay. I was patiently (as best I could) waiting for my blood counts to come up so I could come home. Early that morning I was visiting with a friend in the small "living room" attached to my room at the hospital and I saw a small little visitor enter my room. Very much surprised I jumped off the couch and went searching in my room for this small little critter. I was looking along the edges of the room and moved my laptop computer case and their were two of them. Totally surprised and freaking out, I quickly pushed the nurses button and my aid came and immediately called housekeeping to come and save the day. The housekeepers came and while trying to remove the critters the housekeeper managed to get one of the critters to crawl into the computer case. Yuck!! I have to touch that!!! He took the computer case outside and released that critter. The other critter was done away with when the other sweet housekeeper sprayed it with the cleaning solution. She was so brave! She then cleaned my room thoroughly and told me it was safe for me to return. (I was actually thinking they should just send me home right now) I asked the aid if he would clean the computer bag like it was his own. He was so great. He cleaned it and disinfected it 3 different times as I sat watching. It is a very clean computer bag now! Anyway, the best part of the story was when my nurse came in and said that I was Cinderella and my friends came to give me good news. That was the day the doctors started talking about a possible discharge in the next couple of days. Well, they must have brought me luck because I was released two days later. Thanks little critters!!  (Little critters are not a common thing in the hospital. They had a concert outside on the patio the day before and the doors were propped open to help get patients in and out with their IV poles and these two little critters decided that inside was much cooler than outside and ran into the hospital. Do you blame them?:)

The first time I returned back to the hospital for labs was very hard for me. There was a lot of emotion still inside of me from the 34 day hospital stay. I finished getting my blood drawn then found a chair and just waited a couple hours until my husband came to get me. I was sitting there and was so grateful when my cousin's wife just happened to be there with a neighbor and she came over and talked to me. It was so good to talk to someone and was so grateful for that blessing. Thanks Trish!

I am so overwhelmed with the love that I feel from my Heavenly Father. I know he has and continues to be in the every detail of this process. I have no doubt that I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and He loves me. I am grateful for the atonement and for my Savior lifting me up and carrying me through the good days and the bad. I am blessed to have so much support and love from my husband, children, family, and so many friends, and people I don't even realize. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. You will never know how much it helps me. I pray that each of you will also be blessed as you serve another. Much love to all of you! Shantel