Poodles Unite!

Ahh the joys of an LP, otherwise known as a lumbar puncture, AKA a spinal tap. A procedure my father describes (After he witnessed my first LP) as watching maple syrup being dripped out from the trunk of a maple tree. It was totally fine though, didn't even need to take anything before to calm down! And the procedure went really well, they extracted some spinal fluid which came out clear (meaning that there weren't any leukemic cells readily evident) and they also injected some chemotherapy to keep everything clear so it all went well and according to plan. After the spinal tap I got another round of chemotherapy, but it was only a syringe of chemo over two minutes so it wasn't bad or anything. Unfortunately though after about an hour or so I started to get waves of nausea and ended up having to run to the bathroom to puke two separate times (lovely, isn't it?). But thanks to my amazing nurses I was able to take some anti-nausea meds and am back to my normal self again! I've been waiting for the ball to drop so to speak since things have been going so well and it's all been so uneventful so I guess today's bout of sickness was the eventual appearance of the inevitable..... hopefully it won't happen too often though! yuck.......



Luckily my bedmate for the weekend, dear Leonora has been taking excellent care of me. She even sat in on the spinal tap! Although the nurse made her stay in her bed during the procedure so in case she passed out the nurse wouldn't have to worry about her, hahaha. But she was fabulous! Helped me keep my mind off the needle sticking out of my spine by discussing the latest gossip out of Tattler, as well as scanning the piles of magazines for chic headscarf tying techniques. She also brought me a bevy of goodies from Georgetown which was such a wonderful surprise - including scrumptious homemade banana bread! (You know who you all are - Thank you so much! The books and cards and everything are just perfect!) I have to admit a favourite gift though - my roommates put together this incredible collage for me that is BEAUTIFUL and so so amazing. It's going straight to the framer's when I get home! The pictures are from all throughout my Georgetown career and it was just so precious for me to see all my friends, through all the years and all the good times - truly fantastic memories. So to the ladies of F102 - THANK YOU!!! I truly cannot thank you all enough for everything that you girls have done for me.



Today I also found out that my blood counts are already coming back up. My platelets are already at a normal level, my red blood cells are also on the rise, and most importantly, my white blood cells are also on the up and up! To be discharged from the hospital a certain type of white blood cells, the neutrophils, have to be at a count above 500 to proe that I've regained my body's natural defense system. Today they were at 93! So it appears that my blood is regenerating healthily! wooooo! So I'm only going to be at the hospital probably for another week and then I'll be discharged and I can go home! So crazy how it's gone by so fast already...

While this is only one tunnel of many through my battle with leukemia, I've set a bit of a goal as the light at the end of this first one. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to make it down to Georgetown for graduation and be able to walk. (!!!) I mean, I can't make any definite promises, but I'm hoping that I'll have enough time between being discharged from the hospital that I can appropriately rest up in Concord and try not to get sick so I can fly down to DC! So keep your fingers crossed for me....