Friday, June 22, 2012
6/22 (Stem cell harvest, Anniversary, etc)
Lots going on since the last post but the BEST thing is that my family made it back to Memphis. I can't begin to tell you how awesome it is to have my girls back in town. As nice as it is to have some quiet time, having them gone for 3 weeks isn't all that fun.
When we last connected, I described the chemo and how Elizabeth was feeling. She went in for her blood work on Wednesday the 13th. Unfortunately, her blood counts were nowhere near where they needed to be in order to harvest stem cells. Same thing on Thursday. At that point, Tulane told her to take the weekend off and they would re-check things on Monday. I couldn't wait for Friday to come because I was going to drive back to Louisiana to see everyone. I lied to Elizabeth and Anna and told them I was driving down early Saturday morning. I felt like a really excited kid on Christmas Eve while I was driving home - I couldn't wait to see them. Obviously I'd see Elizabeth on Friday night - but I would have to wait to see those sweet little angels of mine. I woke up Elizabeth at midnight on Friday and it was pretty cool to see the look in her eyes as she woke up and realized that I had drove down early. Anna's reaction was great the next morning as well - she hugged me as tight as ever and told me how much she loved me. Awesome moments in my life and they are forever stored in the vault.
We had a great weekend - got to spend time with both families and we had dinner with my grandmother and uncle on Saturday. Father's Day was fairly uneventful but it just didn't matter as I spent the day with my family. That's all I wanted (well, that and I got to watch the US Open without being pestered too much!!!). Love that the US Open is always on Father's Day! I get uninterrupted golf every year in one of the three biggest tournaments (yes, I know that the PGA Championship is the other major). I was going to leave Louisiana at 4am on Monday morning so that I could get back to work but my boss texted me on Sunday night to tell me to stay for a few days if I needed to because we were slow at the office. That was a blessing - as I explain Monday to you!
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| The apheresis contraption - or a fancy plumbing science project! Your call |
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| Hooked up and ready to get some cells harvested! |
Dr. Safah wanted her to stay two more days in New Orleans to monitor the femoral line site but Elizabeth wanted to get home. So, we left - of course. Ha. We're bad! Okay, not bad but disobedient! We're trying but it really is difficult given that we live 6 hours away and she had been gone for 3 weeks. It was time! We made a compromise though - we scheduled an appointment to see Dr. Pallera that Tuesday so he could do her blood work and look at the incision site. There are serious risks with the femoral line - infection and bleeding are the two main issues. But thankfully nothing was wrong and she made the trip just fine! Here's another tribute to her strong bone marrow - her WBC counts was double on Tuesday what it was on Monday suggesting that she could have collected another 20+ million stem cells per kg. Dr. Pallera was shocked. Melissa at Tulane (the transplant coordinator) said she thinks that Elizabeth may have set a record for amount of cells collected in < 3 hours. I knew she kicked ass and she just keeps proving it over and over again. So proud!
We talked to Dr. Pallera for about 30 minutes. We talked about her nagging cold (that is thankfully getting a little better), her overall health, the transplant and chemo associated with it, her counts, the stem cell collection, and her upcoming scan. He seemed very excited about how strong her marrow was and stated that he couldn't recall someone with such strong marrow after so much chemo within the last year. We felt pretty positive coming out of the appointment.
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| Anniversary dinner. Eight years - and she still puts up with me! |
It's now Friday and she is doing wonderful. She is back at work - in her element and doing her thing! As usual. I say it all the time but for all of her clients that read this - she absolutely LOVES you guys! She loves working and spending time with you all. I am glad that she loves it so much - it is so therapeutic. Thanks for keeping her in good spirits. Hopefully she'll be able to work for a few weeks before the transplant. The next big hurdle is Monday - her PET/CT scan. I see what all the cancer forums mean when they say "scanxiety"! I'm a nervous wreck. We need some good news on Monday. If she is all clean (like we are praying for) then it's a full-go for the transplant next month. It is very important to have a clean scan in terms of long-term outcomes! Elizabeth is going to beat this - this is just the next step on the journey! Prayers needed for great news on Monday.
In closing, I still miss my little Mitzi! She was such a great dog. This past week, one of our best friends, Tiffany, lost her dog. Coupled with the loss of her dad earlier this year, we can't send out enough prayers for you honey! We love you very much and hope that the rest of 2012 can bring some happiness to you. We also are praying for Aspen and Jolynn as both are hurting. We love you guys! We love our pets, too, and know how they can be family - and it hurts so much to lose them.
Thanks for all the continued support. We appreciate it so much. Please leave a comment or email me at scott.p.noel@gmail.com if you need to ask anything.
Much love,
Scott
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Do you need a blood drive? I'm glad to help. What type of blood does she need? I can contact lifeblood and ask them to allocate for her. People can donate in her name. I'll do anything needed to make this happen so please just ask. Thinking of you all <3 the berrys
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