September 3, 2008

Hi to everyone!

It's been awhile since the last blog update, actually a whole month!! August was a quiet month and our family took a couple weeks of camping in. The first week was very relaxing after a busy July of doctor's appointments, but the second week started to tire me out mentally. By the end of summer everything became overwhelming. Phone calls, people asking about doctor's appointments, the kid's bickering, trying to take care of myself and still run the household. (This is when the family ran away to camp - just to get away from everything). When I'm on all these drugs and off again it takes a toll on you mentally and you become very irritable about everything! I seem to snap at everyone, especially my own family, and that's hard to deal with because they aren't doing anything wrong. You can't really control it though, but you feel bad for doing it all the time. It's nice that the kids were looking forward to school and I was looking forward to some down time myself. I seem to be really tired all the time, but now that I can rest during the day again hopefully that will get better too.
This week I have doctor's appointments everyday. London wants to start all kinds of tests on me to see if I'll physically be up to doing a stem cell transplant. In Owen Sound I'll be doing all kinds of blood work, 24 hr urine test, a breathing test and a heart test. My lungs, kidneys and heart have to be in good shape or I won't even be allowed to follow through with the procedure. Later in the month I go to London for another four hours of testing. More blood work, chest x-rays, an ECG and a physical. Than they give me the tour of the area where I'll be living for a couple weeks after the transplant. I'll also be getting a permcap in above my heart for all the meds and will also act as a feeding tube if I can't eat on my own.
Come the first week of October I'll have a nurse come in everyday for a week and inject me with drugs to get the stem cells moving and healthy. At the end of the week they do dialysis (harvest) in London and hopefully they get a good "crop" or else I'll have to stay for another day of dialysis. On October 15 I get a heavy dose of chemo to kill everything off in my body and on the 17th the doctors will transplant my thawed healthy stem cells back into my body. Hopefully this all works because you only get one chance with this transplant in your life. It's nice to have the dates to look forward to and hopefully I can start the long recovery back to good health again.
At first when the doctor called with all the dates, times and procedures I was a bit nervous because everything was suddenly happening. Now I am not nervous, but have peace with whatever happens. I don't look that far ahead, so I have nothing to worry about. It's all about one day of testing at a time. I know the Lord is with me every step of the way and He will guide and protect me in all things. He is our strength when we are weak, our Rock to hold on to!
I almost forgot to mention, I got my hair cut - about 15 in.- and I donated it to the Cancer Society. I'm working my way to baldness. I'm almost due for my next do!! This haircut is about up to my chin I guess. The hairdresser called it a bed-head style, I said "perfect!". The next one is going to be short and wild (I guess another bed-head one!).
Anyway, this is the update for now. By mid October I hope to be on the road to recovery which will still take a couple months, but at least it will be going uphill! I still receive cards in the mail and it's nice to know so many people care about my family and continue to offer help in so many ways. Your prayers keep us going! Thank you to everyone.
Love from Pete, Sharon, Natasha, Heather and Shaun.