"STILL ALIVE!!"

Today I receive my tenth and last syringe full of decitabine for this first “round”. Although it’s seriously the EASIEST chemotherapy I have ever received in the history of the chemos I have ever received, I still feel like greeting every morning like that scene in “The Croods” where the whole family pops out of the mound of popcorn in the morning, with triumphant fists in the air, and they all shout, “STILL ALIVE!!” I know this is grossly exaggerating it-- because seriously, when I tell you this is cake, this is cake-- but it still brings a smile to my face, that scene. I love “The Croods”. I think it gets funnier every time I watch it.

For those interested, my day usually looks like this: Arrive at the Day Hospital. Wait around for height, weight, and vitals to be recorded, medications and allergies to be reviewed, then the doctor looks over everything and “releases” the chemotherapy. The nurses run an anti-nausea drug (Zofran- some of you may be familiar with it) for about 15 minutes then hook me up to the chemo syringe for about an hour, then a saline flush for about 5 minutes. Then they unhook me from the pumps, go over my discharge paperwork and future appointments, have me sign their discharge papers, and I’m FREE! It’s so so easy, I may be getting spoiled. I seriously think I will cry if, after a few rounds of this chemo, the doctors tell me it isn’t working and I have to do the “sledgehammer” treatment, as they so correctly call it.

As I was sitting here typing, the results from my lumbar puncture came back! NO CANCER IN MY SPINE!!!! I cannot tell you ho relieved I am…. I don’t know if I could have mentally handled two lumbar punctures every week, which would have been the treatment plan had there been cancer in my spinal fluids! GRATEFUL TO HEAVENLY FATHER. GRATEFUL BEYOND WORDS.

The plan from here is that I will get two weeks off to be fairly normal (with weekly checkups, blood and platelet transfusions in Indiana if needed, and hopefully no fever), then around December 27^th, come back to Cincinnati for another ten days of decitabine. Two more weeks off, the ten days chemo…. I’m not sure how many “rounds” of that I will have to do before they can tell if the decitabine is working or not, but it sounds like a few months worth. It’s all been outpatient so far. Well, not including the first couple of days they kept me inpatient to make sure I tolerated everything well, plus for my CVC (central venous catheter, aka Hickman) placement-- they wanted to make sure everything was honky dory with that.

So that’s our plan! And in our off time, we have been cruising around Jungle Jim’s (if you have not gone, I highly recommend the trip! It’s like a foodie’s Disney World), checking out the local eateries, and been in search for a decent winter coat for myself, although I’m not sure how much I need it since I feel like I’m in a constant hot flash, keeping the rooms and apartments at around 60 degrees—I hear leukemia can do this to you? My poor family.... all bundled up... Love them!!