~I celebrated my 21st birthday on April 5th! I was feeling rather fatigued and a little nauseous throughout the day (from high dose chemo on March 29) so I stayed at home and didn't do much. Fortunately, my Grandpa, Aunt and baby cousin came to surprise me from Orange County for the day so I spent it with them at home. I didn't have a typical 21st at the bars with friends but my mom and Sam Theard helped plan a small get together for me on the night of my birthday- they put an announcement in my Carezone site to text my mom if toasting my 21st at Handles that night was going to happen. My mom was able to sneak me out. It was perfect!
~Unfortunately, a few days after my birthday I had to rush to Stanford for an unplanned visit because I had gotten a huge rash on my chest that was getting worse and I was experiencing a lot of pain in my left arm where my port was inserted. My doctor was afraid that I had a blood clot from the new port. I spent the whole day in the Infusion area getting different treatments to get rid of the rash and clot. By the end of the day, my teams of doctors and nurses decided that to get rid of the rash, I would have to get this port out after my stem cell collection and get a PIC line put into my arm. To get rid of the blood clot, I have been put on a blood thinner injection called Lovenox. My parents have had to give me shots in my stomach every morning and night for the past month. My doctors told me I will probably have to do this for 5 more months :(
~On April 10th, I had stem cell collection day. This was a big day in my Bone Marrow transplant journey because it meant that I was off "house arrest" and wouldn't have to wear the huge mask outside or follow a strict Low microbial diet for the next few weeks.
I didn't mention this before but since my last high dose chemo (called Cytoxan) on March 29, my parents have had to give me two Neupogen shots in my stomach to stimulate the growth of white blood cells in my body. This is a very important factor for a Bone Marrow Transplant because not only is it fighting infections, but also my bone marrow needed to be easily accessible for the stem collection day. But with this important shot came bad side effects, I was constantly feeling nauseous and had MAJOR bone pain towards the day of collection. I could hardly walk and got random stabbing pains in my hips and forehead. So after my blood clot, I was getting 4 shots daily in my stomach! It was not my favorite part.. but my parents are pros at giving abdomen shots now ;) Fortunately, I stopped the two Neupogen shots on stem cell collection day and I am just doing the two Lovenox shots.
During the stem cell collection, I just had to sit in a chair like chemo and watch my stem cells come out of my body and get centrifuged in a large machine. Our goal was to collect 4 million stem cells and we were able to collect 15 million! These stem cells were sent to a special freezing unit at Stanford until my Transplant where the cells would go back into me on May 9. Science is crazy!
~I travelled to New York City and Long Island with my mom for a long weekend! Since my birthday was just a few days before my trip, my grandparents treated me to my ticket to NYC :) In between chemotherapies, I was given a "vacation break" from cancer so I wanted to be able to take advantage of this to celebrate my 21st and do something fun before I was in the hospital for a month. I had to have someone with me 24/7 due to the blood clot, so my mom was happy to travel with me.
In just a few days there, we were able to accomplish so many things because luckily, I was feeling okay! The Smith family treated my mom and me to Book of Mormon broadway show tickets because they heard that I really wanted to see that show :) It was so much fun and I was laughing the whole time! We also visited the 9/11 Memorial museum.. best museum I have ever been to. I could spend hours in there. Rodelyn, one of my mom's closest friends from Dublin was able to meet us in NYC for a two days because she can fly standby! We did a carriage ride through Central Park, had "Breakfast at Tiffanys" and got to see a taping of Saturday Night Live!!!! My mom's friend Colleen has a friend that is friends with Jon Hamm and he hooked us up with tickets to see Nick Jonas as the performer for the show that night. I was pretty excited :) And finally, the night before we went home we got to go to the sold out Hamilton show!! My mom's friend used to be a broadway dancer and she knew the choreogropher so we got great seats for the show and were able to go backstage to meet the cast after! Great end to an even greater trip!
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| Had to wear a mask on the airplane so that I wouldn't get any germs |
Towards the end of my trip, my hair started to fall out from the chemotherapy so my mom and I decided to find a Barbershop while we were walking through SoHo. He did a great job and I was able to rock a cute pixie for a few days :)
~A few days after New York, I realized that my hair loss was getting worse so my family's dear friend and hair dresser Elizabeth Ponce offered to shave my head again (she did it for me last year during my 12 rounds of chemo). I was lucky to have my mom and Sam come to support me. I shed a few tears during the shaving but it was definitely easier the second time than the first
Flash forward to today.... I am officially in my isolation part of the Bone Marrow transplant! I am so close to the finish line!!! Just 4 weeks in the hospital and then I will hopefully be done with cancer for good!!
I arrived to Stanford hospital around 6 pm last night and wasn't given my chemotherapy until 2 am because I had to be hydrated for a long time before. I am grateful that my mom was able to spend the night with me. I will be in a double room with another female patient going through a transplant until my white blood cell count goes down then I will have a private room.. Probably will be in a few days because I have chemo again tomorrow (#22) (Thursday 5/5) and Saturday #23 (5/7). Then my "re-birthday" or official Bone Marrow transplant is on May 9. This is the day that my stem cells that were collected a few weeks ago will be put back into my body to regrow and eventually help put me into official remission. I have had a few people ask me when the surgery is.. the Bone Marrow Transplant is not a surgery. The procedure is simple and is an infusion through my PIC line
~In the hospital I hope to get some things done that I have always wanted to do! For example, I want to learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube! I also hope to start an online class or two during my 3-4 week stay at Stanford hospital. Visitors are welcome as long as they aren't sick and I am feeling okay.
Some people have been asking for my address to send me a letter or note.
300 Pasteur Drive
Stanford CA
BMT unit E1 Room 37
94305
