SOOOOO ITCHY!!!!

Hello!

I am on day six of consolidation treatment; I finished my chemotherapy late Thursday night after a grueling 4 days of nausea and fatigue. Since getting the long line catheter in my right arm, my and I have had to attend classes that teach you how to take care of it at home so you don't have to keep going to the hospital all the time. MD Anderson has been very helpful in the sense that they want you to be able to take care of yourself and not depend on the nurses to change dressings or flush your line. So my mom got certified to be able to change the caps and flush the lines on Thursday; that way we wouldn't have to go to the hospital just to have them remove the chemotherapy from my port. She was able to do it without killing me so I think that's a step in a positive direction. The next day (Friday) we had to go to the hospital early to get blood drawn (no more pokes!) and then see my doctor about my counts and what to expect in the next week. My counts were still very good but they said by next Thursday (07/28/11) my counts should be at their lowest. That means no immune system for me. I have an appointment on Tuesday to have my counts checked and then again on Friday. I just have to be careful and aware of myself and my surroundings. I am hoping to not get ANY mouth sores and try and get through these next two weeks without any problems. The doctor also said that my counts should be good enough by August for me to go to Travy's graduation! Very excited about that. Cassidy also got those dates off from work so he will get to come too! I am so excited to see everyone and just hope that I'm feeling well while I'm there.

Tomorrow I meet with my fertility doctor who said in two weeks I can start the process to harvest my eggs (after he checks to make sure my ovaries are still working). He said it should only take 10-12 days which is good timing because by then we should know if my brother and sister are matches or not. If they are then as soon as the harvesting is done I start the process for the stem cell transplant. If not...then I get another round of chemo :( I found out on Friday why it is so important to keep me in remission; apparently, after you get into remission once and you let the cancer come back it is harder to get you back into remission for the second time. The doctors would have to use different chemotherapies to try and killthe cancer again because the original chemo wouldn't work as well again. This is why they have to keep me on chemotherapy until my transplannt...and that is why I hope my brother or sister is a match (and because I would get to see them in Texas :D)

Yesterday I met my Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Drexel who live about 30 minutes away in Pearland (pronounced PearAHland :D). Aunt Drexel is 99 years old and as spunky as ever. She rode a horse for her 99th birthday! We are going to meet both of them and Dorothy's family today on the boardwalk of Clearwater (it's a city by the gulf). So I am excited to go explore a city I haven't been to yet :) Also, it is Cassidy's day off so he will get to meet them as well.

Now, I don't know if it is due to the chemotherapy, lower blood counts or my hair falling out but I AM SO ITCHY!!!! I think it is my hair cells dying, but my legs, arms and body are just driving me insane with inchiness. Even the skin until my PICC line dressing is ichy. I'll probably go bald just from scratching everything! If anyone has any remedies to help decrease the ichiness I will surely try anything!

My dad and my friend Lilja come on Tuesday! I am so excited to see both of them...I feel like it's been such a long time since I saw my dad for the 4th of July. It's been wonderful having Nana here as well and it will be sad to see her go on Wednesday. I love that I have been meeting family that live so close to me in Texas; it's definitely nice to have them nearby! I have been getting my appetite back and eating again so I am just hoping it doesn't go away! Oh! Travis finally got his HLA typing kit sent out to the hospital (after waiting a week for it to arrive!) so hopefully we will find out who is my match soon!

i love you all and will update again soon!

-Savy