Notes From Supergirl

My Diary from the Trenches

Day 175

November22

I was scheduled to have a bone marrow biopsy today but was pleasantly surprised when I got there and the doctor said she wanted to wait another week for my counts to keep coming up. She is also pushing back the start of my maintenance chemo by one week giving me almost two more weeks of almost complete freedom from the hospital. Next week I have to go in for a full day of pre-chemo testing including a chest x-ray, another echo cardiogram and another EKG. I am actually eager to get another echo and see if there has been any improvement in my heart function since the last one. I bought a pretty fancy heart-rate monitor and have been using it while I exercise. It also keeps extensive records of my heart-health so I can see if I am improving my fitness level over time. The good news is that since I have been home, my heart rate has been back to normal and I am comfortable exercising at the lower level of what I used to do. I have also seen pretty dramatic improvements in my strength over the last 3 weeks. As I told a friend of mine, although I have a long road of rebuilding ahead of me, it is also kind of neat to go through a period of growth again. My fitness level was very good before any of this happened but it had been years since I really challenged myself to reach a higher level. I think that this experience will take me to that next level … eventually.

As for my numbers, they are on the rise. I am happy to report my white blood cell count is once again in the normal range. My platelets were at 80,000 and my red blood cells were just over 11. All in all, everything is on the way. I am still dealing with this mystery pain in my left side. It is usually mild, but occasionally flairs up and wakes me in the middle of the night. The CT scan was completely normal (minus one lesion on my liver) and the doctor is pretty stumped as to what it could be. She is inclined to think it is muscular but said that if it persists she wants to do an MRI of my spine just to double-check that there are no nerveĀ  or degenerative issues. In the meantime I am trying to ignore it. Advil and Ativan (for anxiety) seem to be helping. One takes the pain away, one makes me think less about it.

Everything else is going well. I had a great visit with my cousin Amy over the weekend. It was so awesome to have some quality girl time – and shopping. I’m working hard and working hard on getting ready for the holidays. I’m very excited about the holiday parties and the baking and the gift wrapping and all of those things that serve as wonderful distractions while I try to refocus on normalcy.

My next post will be a special top 10 thankful list in honor of Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, I have so many things I am thankful for this year.

posted under The Daily Record
One Comment to

“Day 175”

  1. Avatar November 23rd, 2010 at 2:12 pm Chip Says:

    Jess -

    We too are thankful that you are on the mend. Have a great Thanksgiving.

    Chip