First off I want to apologize for being lazy and not writing for so long. It's just been so busy with all my company that is here! Since Nana came snd left I had my cousin Ale over for a week and our friend matt here through christmas. It was so nice seeing them! Christmas was amazing. travis arrived on christmas eve and my apartment was all decorated for the holiday :) I think my mom and bucha would be proud :D For christmas there was me, cass, matt and trav. I'm so grateful that they were able to come and spend time with us...that was the best present i could have asked for. Matt left on the 26th and Chelsea and Big Tam came the next day on the 27th which was Cassidy's birthday :) We went to Outback steakhouse for his birthday. Coincedentally, Chelsea's bf lives in Dallas so he drove down to meet up with us and chels; He will be here until the 5th, which is when she leaves. To make things even better my friend from middle school, Contessa, just arrived last night to spend a week here! I havent seen her in a while and I'm soooo happy she is here!!! I'm so lucky to have family and friends here with me through the holidays. sofar we have had a lot of fun just spending time with each other and making each other laugh. I wish they would all move to houston!
So believe it or not yesterday I made 100 days since my transplant. I remember being in the hospital the first night and at 4:00 am they started my chemotherapy. I remember thinking that this was only day -6 and I have no idea how I was going to make it to 100. Through the exhausting days of the transplant and then going everyday to get magnesium transfusions, I couldn't have done it without all my support and family that has been here through the mess of it all. I am so fortunate that I had someone by my side everyday since I was diagnosed. I'm already going towards 7 months since I was diagnosed...it seems so long ago but at the same time time has been kind and passed quickly. Yesterday we all slept in and me, trav and tam went to MDA to get my CVC changed and re-stitched because the new stitching that was done last week came out. My doc still wants to keep my CVC in until it's clear that i won't need any transfusions...well i don't think i need it because it's been 2 weeks since my last mag transfusion and my mag leves are normal now (thanks to the 10 pills of 500 mg mag i take everyday). hopefully next week they will decide to take it out. anyways, the catheter nurse had to restitch all three of my stitches and it was really sore for the rest of the day. We all went to the Fine Arts museum and while trav and tam went to the King Tut showing, me, chels and drew checked out the rest of the museum and all their paintings. It was great to go there again but I was definitely sore from walking around for a couple of hours haha. Tam then made a cake for me and decorated it :D I think i'll have some for breakfast today hehehe. Unfortunatly they leave tomorrow at noon and i'm already missing them even though they haven't left! I hate it when they go :( but i am SO THANKFUL for having them here. all of them have been the best present i could have asked for for christmas :D
some other good news: on day 90 they did a bone marrow aspiration and found no blast cells or leukemic cells in my marrow :D :D My doc said i'm pretty much good to go once they know for sure that i won't need any magnesium.
well i hope you all had an amazing christmas and have a fantastic new year! I am so lucky that i am alive to be spending it with my family and friends. i love you all!
-Savannah
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
wake up. shuttle to mda, magnesium 3 hrs, shuttle home, sleep, and repeat
hello world. sorry it has almost been a month since i've written! I got into a little funk because of my repetitous days going back and forth to MDA EVERYDAY. argh. its exhausting waking up early everyday, lugging around 2-3 bags, waiting to get blood drawn (wait time varies between 10min- 1 hour), going to the ambulatory treatment center and waiting another 1-2 hours, going to a bed and getting magnesium for 3 hours, then going up to visiting my friend Lori who in an inpatient right now and I'm trying to give her my support since she has none, then catching the shuttle back home around 4 or 5 pm and crashing on the couch. and repeat for the next day. i don't even have weekends off. in fact, my first day off of fluids ever is tomorrow and guess what? i still have to come to MDA for a survivor follow-up visit and an eye appointment. dang it. at least i get to sleep in a litte bit.
so bucha was here for 3 weeks right before my mom left to go back to Kauai. It was sad to see my mom go but happy to have bucha here with me. she taught me how to knit and i helped her make a couple pairs of the bedroom slippers we have for sale on my store. it was so great having her here and her time with me just flew by way too fast.
i was alone for 4 days before Nana arrived in town. it was pretty shocking to have no one here with me (cassidy is usually off at work) and I started to have a lot of anxiety over it. luckily nana came and she has been taking good care of me (she says hello :)). I'm on day 78! Today is also nana's husband's birthday; he would be 78 (ironically) today...we all love and miss him sooooo much! Nana has been thrilled to be here and enjoys spending time with me (as i do her).
Today we went christmas tree shopping with my friend kelly. we all decided an artificial tree would be the smartest thing for me to get so we headed off to hobby lobby in search of something good. unfortunately even with everything 50% off they were all too expensive. we hopped over to lowes and we found a perfect 7 ft tree with pine cones and berries on it for $127! perfect! that is nana's christmas gift for me this year and i appreciate it so much! a very nice man offered to bring it to kelly's SUV for us which was very sweet because it's in a big box. I'm very excited about decorating it.
my cousin Ale and our friend Matt is coming to town next friday. me and cassidy are very excited to have our friends visit! I can't wait for travis, big tam and chelsea to come too. also my friends contessa and kainoa might be making a visit as well! it's going to be busy but with people i love and care about :D
my dad was here last weekend and we spent time with jan and janet and of course ate good food. my cousin John is here this week for work so we had lunch with him yesterday and will see him again tomorrow.
OH! i really had meant to right a blog about thanksgiving...so here is the cliff notes version:
nana arrived the night before thanksgiving; since angel and tom (from austin) wanted to go to the thanksgiving football game (UT vs T A&M) we went over to Tiffany's for burgers and football on thanksgiving. we met josh's parents who are from oklahoma.
the next day was our t-day and i was stuck at MDA all day. we didn't get done until about 4 or 5pm. cassidy worked until 6 so we were planning on going over to Tiffany's as soon as we all got home. Tiffany, josh and his mom cooked all day and made an amazing meal. unfortunately my new medication killed my appetite and i only could eat a child's portion of delicious food. we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for...
I just want to say that i am SO thankful to have the most AMAZING support group anyone could ever ask for. I am thankful for my friends and family who have been by me this whole 6 months and helping me keep positive through this experience. I have met multiple people who's families don't care about them and find them an inconvience. i am trying to spend my time with Lori who doesn't really have anyone sit by her side all day and just give her company like I had the ENTIRE time i was in the hospital. I am thankful to be alive and healthy and getting through my transplant with no problems. i love everyone so much and i don't know how i could have gotten through this without you all. you have given me the strength i needed to go through this with my head held high. I'm almost done and in 3 more months i'll be able to work and volunteer again. I can't wait :) thank you for your love and support...know that i appreciate it everyday.
love you all,
-savy
so bucha was here for 3 weeks right before my mom left to go back to Kauai. It was sad to see my mom go but happy to have bucha here with me. she taught me how to knit and i helped her make a couple pairs of the bedroom slippers we have for sale on my store. it was so great having her here and her time with me just flew by way too fast.
i was alone for 4 days before Nana arrived in town. it was pretty shocking to have no one here with me (cassidy is usually off at work) and I started to have a lot of anxiety over it. luckily nana came and she has been taking good care of me (she says hello :)). I'm on day 78! Today is also nana's husband's birthday; he would be 78 (ironically) today...we all love and miss him sooooo much! Nana has been thrilled to be here and enjoys spending time with me (as i do her).
Today we went christmas tree shopping with my friend kelly. we all decided an artificial tree would be the smartest thing for me to get so we headed off to hobby lobby in search of something good. unfortunately even with everything 50% off they were all too expensive. we hopped over to lowes and we found a perfect 7 ft tree with pine cones and berries on it for $127! perfect! that is nana's christmas gift for me this year and i appreciate it so much! a very nice man offered to bring it to kelly's SUV for us which was very sweet because it's in a big box. I'm very excited about decorating it.
my cousin Ale and our friend Matt is coming to town next friday. me and cassidy are very excited to have our friends visit! I can't wait for travis, big tam and chelsea to come too. also my friends contessa and kainoa might be making a visit as well! it's going to be busy but with people i love and care about :D
my dad was here last weekend and we spent time with jan and janet and of course ate good food. my cousin John is here this week for work so we had lunch with him yesterday and will see him again tomorrow.
OH! i really had meant to right a blog about thanksgiving...so here is the cliff notes version:
nana arrived the night before thanksgiving; since angel and tom (from austin) wanted to go to the thanksgiving football game (UT vs T A&M) we went over to Tiffany's for burgers and football on thanksgiving. we met josh's parents who are from oklahoma.
the next day was our t-day and i was stuck at MDA all day. we didn't get done until about 4 or 5pm. cassidy worked until 6 so we were planning on going over to Tiffany's as soon as we all got home. Tiffany, josh and his mom cooked all day and made an amazing meal. unfortunately my new medication killed my appetite and i only could eat a child's portion of delicious food. we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for...
I just want to say that i am SO thankful to have the most AMAZING support group anyone could ever ask for. I am thankful for my friends and family who have been by me this whole 6 months and helping me keep positive through this experience. I have met multiple people who's families don't care about them and find them an inconvience. i am trying to spend my time with Lori who doesn't really have anyone sit by her side all day and just give her company like I had the ENTIRE time i was in the hospital. I am thankful to be alive and healthy and getting through my transplant with no problems. i love everyone so much and i don't know how i could have gotten through this without you all. you have given me the strength i needed to go through this with my head held high. I'm almost done and in 3 more months i'll be able to work and volunteer again. I can't wait :) thank you for your love and support...know that i appreciate it everyday.
love you all,
-savy
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