April 22, 2008 Update

Dear Fods,

Hello everyone. It's me typing on my own so please disregard any mistakes or typo's. Thank you all for continuing to blog even when we are silent. You all so inspire me with your loyal blogs and cards and calls. It's been a rough couple of weeks. I received round #4 of Dacogen without much of a problem (the usual fatigue and nausea and lingering dizziness and sinusitis). Then we received some very sad news. Our beloved "Aunt Angie" who you all know from the blog passed away 2 weeks ago. Aunt angie was diagnosed with mylodysplasia last fall and was undergoing treatment and getting frequent blood transfusions and platelet transfusions. She was in the hospital for about a week and was expected to go home on hospice but then died fairly quickly from kidney failure. Thankfully, COD Eileen (her daughter) said it was very peaceful and quick. I know that most of you didn't know her personally, but she was a hoot and a holler. Who else do we know at the age of 81 could navigate the blog the way she did? I have such great memories of her from my childhood and lately her trips to the Jersey shore with Eileen and her family. Can you imagine making that trip from St. Louis with 5 other people in that SUV? Well i was determined to fly to Missouri for the funeral but Dr. Porter was not very encouraging in this regard. I was not going with his blessing as my counts were at there lowest point from getting the chemo. An hour after speaking with Dr. Porter about making the trip i came down with a fever of 104 degrees and once again got a very serious case of sinusitis and bronchitis which i still have. I've had all the usual blood cultures and several trips down to Penn to see Dr. Porter and several trips to see Dr. Chiu ( the ENT doc.)I had yet another CATscan which was terrible and the end result was i need surgery to clean out my sinuses and straighten my deviated septum which they think is also contributing to poor drainage in my nose. YIKES!!!!! Honestly they have been telling me this for months but i just could not imagine going thru this with low platelets and an always low white cout..BUT>>>>>Dr. Chiu made it perfectly clear this time that i will not live long with these continued sinus infections and was at greater risk at dying from the infection then from the surgery. Dr. Porter strongly agrees. So as soon as my WBCand Platelets recover i will have the surgery..(probobly next week or the first week in May). It may even help the dizziness since PT didn't do much except make me very sick to my stomach.
On a lighter note God bless Jessie and Allison who both have made several trips with the babies to see me to brighten my spirits. They are all co cute and just lighten my heart.Christian will be 4 in June. Emma turned 2 in March and precious Isabelle was just 6mos. already. We have such a good time with them. I have not been out much other then to Dr. appts but my friends come by for visits and Joe is becoming quite the host and cook.
I hope all is well with all of you and your families. Hasn't this weather been beautiful. The trees and flowers look just glorious this year. I've enjoyed all the animals in the yard and all the varieties of birds flying around.I think i've been forced to "take time to smell the roses" and i watch alot of the cooking station Joe never knows what new surprise awaits him for dinner.
Well anyway I think of you all the time and wish you all the best and THANK YOU again for all the good wishes. We will keep you posted on the coming "events".

Love you all, Debbie