My New Digs

I'm not going to write too much right now 'cause I'm pretty tired, and I need to go wash my face before they come and give me my chemo and some Adavan...looking forward to the Adavan! :) It looks like my anti-nausea iv has almost emptied out so I'm crossing my fingers that it works just as well as last time!!!!
Some thoughts from my first day/night in the hospital: Well, let's just be truthful....this totally and completely sucks!!!!! I'm really scared because I know the dangers that come along with treatment for leukemia, mainly infections. My last hospital stay I developed a fever of 106.8 (in August of '05 due to an infection in my Hickman catheter), and it terrified me. BUT at the same time, I think the fact that I know what lies ahead is helpful because I truly understand the importance of doing anything and everything to prevent infection, and I know that chemo works! I know, you're thinking..."What the he**?! If the chemo worked the first time, you wouldn't be in there now!". I did great for 3 1/2 years, so that makes me hopeful....we just have to go all the way this time and do the transplant and I'll be rid of this once and for all. Laura keeps reminding me that she is responsible for my life, literally. :)
It's nice to see some nurses I remember from last time, although I would have preferred running into them at the grocery store or something..........
Now it's an hour or so later and my chemo is up and running, my face is all washed :) and I'm waiting for my Adavan (is that how you spell that?). So I forgot how annoying it is to have to be attached to an iv pole. Anyone who knows me well knows I have the smallest bladder in the world (is that tmi? :) hahahaha) so it's a big process every time!---get up, unplug the iv, gather my iv's and the power cord so I don't run them over, and push my little pole buddy through the room into the teeny, tiny bathroom, where, just for a little more tmi, they have to measure my pee...it's all really very fun!! :) I forgot about these little irritating details.

Tomorrow at 8, I will get my Hickman catheter put in so my arms can be free from iv's, and I don't have to be stuck with needles all the time. If I'm not too tired, I'll write more tomorrow.

Mariano Rivera has no idea what an important job he has ahead of him! Many people, including doctors and nurses, recommended utilizing visualization as a handy tool to help rid my body of all the cancer cells, so I chose Mariano Rivera, the beloved closer for the Yankees, to be my guy. I visualize him throwing out leukemia cells to the tune of "Enter Sandman", his entrance song. So I'm signing off for now to take him out of the bullpen and put him to work. Personally, I consider this the most important save of his career. :)