Ding, ding, ding, out of your corner for round two!

After my bone marrow last Thursday I was sure I would have had the weekend to continue getting stronger before I knew the results. However, Friday night, just as I was enjoying  a skype shabbat with Stephen, Daniel, and Georgina the Dr came in.  My results showed that my leukemia was resistant to the first round of chemo, higher % blasts and lower % cellularity than expected and so I started my second round of induction chemo that night. My second round of chemo was a new cocktail called MEC  (Mitoxantrone, Etoposide, and high dose Cytarabine) given over 5 days; my last dose was Tuesday night.

My next bone marrow will be when my counts recover, sometime toward the end of August, and at that point if I do have a remission, I can leave the hospital but not St. Louis and will be on a faster track for a stem cell transplant.  If I am not in remission, I will go right into a stem cell transplant.

My cousin Barbara, who is an artist, created a unique hat out of the net bags that you would buy oranges and lemons in. So with my new hat I was ready to ride the roller coaster of my second round!  The first two days went rather well, unfortunately on the third day I had a fever. Woke up the next day with swelling and ended up with a low heart rate, both of which are in the process of being sorted out. I also received a fabulous hat and scarf from my friend Kelly that I was using the first two days to walk the hallways. Ladies, thank you for keeping me looking my best during my second chemo-makeover, I am a real hit on the hallway runway.

Ready to ride the roller coaster with my new hat from Barbara!

I am going to try to watch Barcelona play Chivas de Guadalajara tonight and I will be wearing my Puyol jersey!

As always, I thank all of you for supporting us in Urbana which continues to give our family strength during this difficult time.

Deborah

P.S. Check out Saul's post just below mine.