Hi all, wish I could say that this post was a a fully positive update but it isn't. I will update you on the two bumps I have had since my last update.
BUMP #1
- I had a follow-up appointment with my neurologist that went great on November 13th. That night Tara and I headed up to Penn State. The next day I had an appointment with the office of disability to assure that I was prepared to come back to school and that I looked into all the options available to me. That is where I noticed that my hand was not working as well and that I couldn't even write.
-Friday I met with my adviser and got my classes situated for the Spring! (Which is still happening despite the setbacks). Overall it was a good day, I met with another one of my old biology professors that had been checking in with me and even met a professor I will have this semester. Later in that night everything was good; went to dinner with Tara and then had a Kiwi frozen yogurt with a bunch of people! It was all cut short by a seizure so I went home to rest up.
- Saturday was a relaxing game day and tailgate. It was also a win so that always makes for a good weekend! Sunday was a very rough day. I had a headache that would not go away from the night before. Sleeping at night became nearly impossible because my temperature would go from on extreme to the next and I couldn't get comfortable. On our way home Sunday I did get to see the progress on Lauren and Peter's house! That is always an exciting venture :)
- After being in contact with the doctors and trying to figure out why I was getting worse than even after I had surgery they scheduled a CAT scan. The scan showed swelling and I was put on a steroid to reduce the swelling. I was having trouble moving not only my right hand, but I was even dragging my right foot as I walked!
-That Friday, November 22nd I had a follow up appointment in Hershey with my Radiation oncologist! We brought my CAT scan from home in case he wanted to see it and when he did, he was awestruck by the swelling he saw compared to the MRI scan I had a month earlier. He scheduled another CAT scan, this time with contrast to get a better view of the swelling. He called in numerous doctors to get their opinions and after much worrying I got put on an even higher dose of the steroid! The dose of the steroid I am on gets reduced every week to 10 days right now, but they are doing it so slowly I don't expect to be off off it for a while. The nice thing about being on the steroid means less chance of seizures so I haven't had one since my crazy and stressful night!
Things with my hand and foot have been back to normal since the steroid, which is great news!
Also, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving - I'm way behind but this happened during that so I feel I should add that in :)
BUMP #2
This Tuesday, December 17th, was a routine check-up with my neurosurgeon and then another appointment to check-in on my chemo trial. The appointments went well and my scar is healing great! I also got blood work done which is routine for my chemotherapy. After leaving our appointment we did some shopping at the outlets. Luckily we did because we were called and told to return to the hospital as soon as we could. After seeing my lab work they found that my levels were low.
I had to go to the cancer center and get a platelet transfusion. The platelet counts were critically low and had to be handled immediately. Other levels that were cautiously low were my potassium and my white blood cells. I had my blood work taken again yesterday and my platelets were up, still low though. I have to drink a water/ potassium concoction everyday for the next month to keep my potassium up. On Monday I head back to Hershey in order to get a shot to bring up my white blood cell count. When I am in Hershey I will also get blood work again to check my levels.
Chemo is on hold until my levels are normal again so right now I have only gone through one 5 dat cycle. I did not experience any adverse side effects during the actual cycle. Although, it can be hard to tell since my body was dealing with the swelling at the same time. The next cycle will better show what I will feel like,but I pretty confident my body will handle it all the same. Just with better blood counts afterwards- MOST IMPORTANT!
That's really all for now. We will know what the plan is on Monday after we get the lab results back to see what my body has been doing all on its own these past few days! Hopefully good things :) The blog will be updated on Monday after the appointment even if its short just to keep you posted- PROMISE! When things get crazy sometimes its easy to forget to update this, but I'll make sure to post something.
In the meantime I hope everyone is ready for the holidays :) I am very excited for Christmas and cannot believe it's already right around the corner!!
