The Egg Hunt

So I really meant to update 2 days ago...I've had three days of doctor's appointments and here is what happened..

On Monday morning my mom, nana and I went to Dr. Allon's office. Dr. Allon is a fertility doctor who is going to help me harvest eggs before I don't any more chemotherapy treatment. We talked for a bit about what the procedure is and when we should start the hormones. Basically I have a small window to do this procedure because I have to be well enough to do it (meaning my counts need to be high) and do it before chemotherapy. I have ten days of hormone injections and then two days later Dr. Allon will go in (while I am under anesthesia) and extract the eggs. The hormone injections are just an increase dose of what is already in my body and this will trick my body into producing more eggs. So instead of my ovaries producing one egg a month we are going to try and have them produce a years worth of eggs...so about ten eggs. He did an ultrasound to view my ovaries and count how many eggs I have right now; my right one is good but my left one is a little small and didn't have as many follicles in it. It could be from the chemotherapy or just how it was before all of this happened. Either way he should be able to get about ten eggs. Once extracted he will freeze them. The eggs can be frozen indefinitely until I decide to try and have a baby. They will then choose the best two eggs, fertilize them and then put them back into me. Doing it like this gives them a 40-50% chance of the pregnancy taking and going to full term. Another way to do it is to fertilize the eggs BEFORE freezing them; this gives them a 65% or more chance of working. But because me and Cassidy aren't engaged or married it makes things a little more difficult because there are strings attached with these embryos. So within a couple of weeks we will decide what the best option to do and hopefully save some future babies of mine. I am planning on starting the hormone injections while I'm still in Florida and have the procedure the week before I start chemotherapy. That way, even if Travis is a match and I have to start the stem cell transplant stuff, we have the time to extract the eggs.

On Tuesday I went in for blood work and got my counts. My WBC count is decreasing, like it should, so I just have to be careful about what I eat and who I'm around. My counts will continue to decrease this week and hopefully start going back up in time for me to fly to Florida. That's right, I'm going to Florida for Travis' graduation!!!! I can't believe I actually get to go! I'm so excited to see everyone for the week that I'll be there. We are having the party at my uncle's fire station on Anna Maria island....it will be good to be on an island again :) My mom, Cassidy and I leave for Florida on the 3rd of August and we will be there for a week. :) :) :) :) :)
Tuesday was a good day because my dad has finally gotten here after 3 weeks of business and travel all over the nation. It is SO good to see him!! I definitely missed him a lot. He will only be here until tonight (Thursday night) before flying back to Hawaii to fly to Florida with Chelsea and Maile (who I am VERY excited to see in Florida!) So that night we had a dinner party at Jan and Janet's house and had my cousin Tiffany and Josh come over too! We all hung out while Cassidy went to pick up my friend Lilja who I've known from my travels to London. She will be here until Saturday! So I am very excited and happy to have these people around me this week :)

Yesterday I was at MD Anderson alllllll day long. At 9:00 am I had a lung test to make sure my lungs can handle the stem cell transplant. Then at 11:30 I had a OB-GYN appointment to talk about another form of birth control that is like putting my ovaries to sleep for 3 months at a time...essentially it puts me into menopause for 3 months per shot. This will hopefully protect my ovaries from taking in as much chemotherapy...but nothing is certain. This is my best bet at hopefully saving them from failing. After that Cassidy, Lilja and I walked to Chipotle for lunch; we walked around the medical center and were in awe with the beauty of all the buildings that are hospitals. Lilja said it was like walking around downtown Seattle. We had to go back to MDA for a heart scan to make a base line of where my heart strength is now and how it is affected during my transplant. At about 4:00 pm we were finally done and went home. We met up with my mom, dad, Jan and Janet for dinner at this amazing restaurant called the Backstreet Cafe. They had an amazing wine list, amazing food, amazing service...just an amazing night! Cassidy, Lilja and I went to see Captain America after dinner which was a nice way to end the night. Good movie, full belly and good company.

Today we are planning on going to an art museum while Cassidy works. Lilja is an art major and while we were in London we went to 6 museums together for 5 hours at a time. I'm excited to go! There is also a zoo and a beautiful park. I think today will be a good day :)

I love you all and will update soon!

-savy