Saturday, December 19, 2009

Aaaaand I'm back

First, thanks for checking in on me and all the encouraging messages. They give me a little boost when I'm feeling crappy.

Boy what a difference Day +10 makes! Counts:

WBC: 7
ANC: 2.5
HGB: 10.4
PLT: 51

What have I been up to? Sleeping and having very miserable mouth and throat sores. The sores make it hard to eat, drink, and even speak so the best thing to do is to just sleep through it. Luckily I have this super comfy armchair recliner in my room that is perfect for napping. I must make my parents get one like it at home. I did tell myself that I wasn't going to sleep in armchairs this transplant, that I would make an effort to get in bed when I was tired, but this armchair is fabulous and I don't like hanging out in bed all day, I think it's better to get up and save the bed for night time. Good news is that I've been able to keep eating. I'm not eating much, mostly these milkshakes that my mom adds protein powder to. No, I am not trying to pursue my dream of being a professional weightlifter, the nutritionist has been driving home how important protein is during transplant and recommended it. I think my brother was pretty impressed.

Right now I'm still in the hospital because of the mouth sores. I'm still having a lot of pain so I'm hooked up to a pain medication pump, and because I was having so much trouble swallowing all of my meds were switched over to IV form rather than pills. I have to be off the pump and on the pills before I can go home. Probably a few more days still.

Yesterday the rest of my hair started falling out. Hair falls out 2-3 weeks after chemo usully, so this is right on time. I've been wearing my hair up in a ponytail to cover up how thin it is but this actually got really gross when the hair started falling out because all the dead hairs stayed in in the ponytail part and made a huge gross knotty nest of dead hair. It was really gross. So I had my mom bring some scissors in and I just cut off the bulk of my hair in one big chunk, then my mom helped trim up the rest so that it's as short and close to my head as we could get. Now I really look like a cancer patient. And I thought that there were no more surprises for me in being bald, but there was one left! I have a new mole freckle thing on my head and I don't like it! It is going to totally ruin the bald look. I'm going to have to look into bleaching creams or removal or something.

10 comments:

Mary Harvest Kitchen said...

I dunno--i think you should show us a pic of the head-freckle. It might be cute! :-)
we missed you at our holiday celebration last night, but I know you were here in spirit. Just imagine us with a fire in the fireplace and two nice boys playing the guitar and LOTS of cookies.

Monique Geisler said...

how about liquid make-up to cover it?? :)

I'm glad to hear you're doing better! Hope you get time to watch LOTS of movies, my Netflix list is so long right now haha. We just saw Julie & Julia last night and it was pretty cute :)

Loislane said...

You can totally start a head freckle trend. You really do have the facial structure + scalp for it. My face is so long that if I ever went bald, the only trend I could hope to start would be be bringing ugly back :)

Anyway, now that you understand how insecure I feel about never hoping to pull off my own head freckle, the least you could do is return my last four messages before I develop a complex!! Teasing...but I'd love to hear from you when you are feeling up to it.

Yael aka Lois

Erica said...

Glad to hear that you're feeling (slightly) better!! Hope everything keeps looking up (and DEF ask for one of those armchairs for xmas!)

Barbara said...

Hi Mira,

I'm glad to hear that you're doing better ! Way to go ;)
I think even if you know what to expect with your hair falling, it's never a pleasure.

I agree with Monique; try some make up to cover that up.Try some hair acessories that won't pinch.Don't forget sunny happy colors !

I'm glad to come by and read your progress. Hang in there.You are NOT alone :)

Amanda said...

Glad to see you're back! :-) In terms of makeup coverup recommendations, may I specifically recommend Jane Iredale "Disappear"(http://www.beautyriche.com/Jane-Iredale-Disappear, that's the website I generally get it from). That stuff is seriously amazing (take it from a girl with chronically acne-scarred skin that has tried waaaaay too much product...this stuff actually works and seems to cover up anything)! It works so well that when I ran out of it in France and couldn't get it anywhere I had to have it shipped to my family in the U.S. to bring to me when they came to visit, true story :-)

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hey Mir....


Sorry to hear about the throat sores! OUCH!!! I am glad you are able to down your milkshakes with protein powder-- good girl!!!

Hey, about the hair... Maybe you can go back by the mall and say hi to that lady who worked there ... the one you felt bad making that comment to.... Just stop by and say ... HI! ; )

I thought of you tonight over dinner... we had Indian.. It was good but not very spicy!!
I want to go back to our resto in Salzburg!!
I think when you go home you should DEFIN get a comfortable fauteil...
Take care... Leese

Alexandra said...

Hey! It seems like you made it through the hardest days (6-10)-- congratulations!! What flavors are the protein shakes? I hope they're somewhat tasty. And who knows, bodybuilding may just be in your future. :) I hope you were able to celebrate Hanukkah (at work, I brought in this window-gel decoration of a Hanukkiah, and the Jewish kids and I added a new candle each day... )

Much love,
Alex

au soleil levant said...

Mary - this is definitely not a cute head freckle. It kind of looks like an age spot. Yikes! Wish I could have been at the holiday party, sounds like it was lots of fun.

Monique - makeup is a great idea! We do have netflix and Julie & Julia is definitely on our list.

Yael - you're hilarious. And I'm sorry I haven't called you back. Sore throat = not conducive to phone conversations :(

Erica - thanks! My parents actually suggested getting one, so here's hoping!

Barbara - thanks for stopping by! You're very right, happy sunny colors are a must, and I make a point of keeping everything around me bright colors to enliven the mood

Amanda - thanks for the recommendation, I think I will definitely need the heavy duty stuff to cover the spot up

Leesa - and maybe after I go taunt the woman in the mall with my bald head you can go dangle a 20 euro bill in front of that guy in Budapest? :)

Alex - another person who I should call! The milkshakes are vanilla and raspberry, they're pretty tasty. I have the same gel cling thing for my window in the hospital and did the exact same thing :)

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, hair grow back (including eyebrows, bikini, underarms and leg hair - arg.) :-) I know it sucks but it's temporary.

I hope your sores go away sun. Pain is not cool at all.