Bye Bye PICC

Friday evening my arm was a little red and sore around the insertion site of the PICC line.  This has happened before and gotten better on it's own, so I wasn't overly concerned.  I went to visit my sister Chelsea and had a wonderful evening with her and her husband.

Saturday morning when I woke up, my arm felt worse.  It was a little more red, swollen and more sore than the night before.  After enjoying breakfast at IKEA and a quick shopping trip, Chelsea and I went back to her house to watch a movie.  During that time I noticed that there was heat around the insetrion site and it looked like some puss.  I tried calling the Cancer Clinic in London, but it was after hours, so we contacted a friend of Chelsea's who is a nurse.  She confirmed with a doctor that it definitely sounds like an infection (although I hadn't spiked a fever yet) and that I should get to the hospital sooner than later.

I drove back to London, knowing that if I did have an infection they would want to admit me and I would rather be admitted in my own hospital.  When I got home, I checked my temp - 36.4 - still no fever, but the pain was getting worse.  I called the number I was given for if I have any issues with the PICC line and spoke to a nurse.  She told me I would have to have a doctor look at it.  Checked my temp again - 36.9 - climbing, but still no fever.  I called the on call Heamotologist and told him that I think my PICC line is infected.  After explaiing all of my symptoms he told me to go to emerg and that he would make some calls ahead for me.

Once in emerg, my temp was 37.1 and I was told that the Heamotology Resident would be down to see me soon.  An hour later she came down and looked at my arm and said that she would probably have the PICC removed and that I would be admitted for treatment.  Another 2 1/2 hours later I was admitted back upstairs in oncology.  My PICC has been removed and I am on intravenious antibiotics.  Not sure how long they're planning to keep me here this time, but hopefully only a coupld days.

Infected PICC Line

Taking the PICC Line out

This is what was in my arm

The hole in my arm

Thank you to everybody who showed their love and support today! Your kindness and generosity is truly appreciated!

And a special thank you to Tony and the staff at Cibo Osteria for the amazing meal and all of their hard work.

Oncology Nurses Are the Best!!!

Flash mob hits cancer program

Round 3

I have finished what will hopefully be my last round of chemo... Now to recover from that.  I will have blood test twice weekly again with transfusions when necessary, and have been warned that there is a good chance my mouth will react the same way again.  Hopefully I can prevent it this time knowing how awful it was before... And if not, at least I now know how to reach a doctor that will help me instead of going to the emergency room again.

Still no news about transplant... Waiting patiently for them to get the test results and decide if they think it's something worth persuing.  So I will continue to wait for news while I cuddle with my puppy getting lost of rest and recovery.

bald chicks are hot

I'm sitting at home today waiting for a phone call from the hospital.  Next round of chemo should start today.  This may be the last round... If they don't want to do a transplant and if the cancer doesn't come back.

I haven't posted much about transplant because I still don't know if it's something my doctors will want to do.  It's very rare to have a match within your family - especially with only 1 sibling (I would never say I only have 1 sister, but medically, I guess I have 1 sister and 1 half sister).  The good news is my sister is a match!  Who knew we had that much in common?  The bad news is because of her own health problems, the doctors aren't sure if they can use her for transplant.  We are also still waiting on some test results from Toronto to know more about the specific Leukemia that I have.  They are trying to see if they can determine what the likelihood of me relapsing is based on the chromosomes that are effected by the Leukemia in my body.  Fingers crossed for good news!

Please keep my friend Boyd and his family in your thoughts and prayers.  Boyd is preparing for his own transplant early in May.  He is using an unrelated donor and the risks are much higher for this type of transplant.  I'm wishing Boyd and his family all the best... Stay strong!

Why NOT Me?

Everyone keeps telling me that it's normal to feel or think certain things, but I don't think anything is 'normal' once you hear the words 'you have cancer'.

I have been through so many emotions and thoughts, but the one thing that I haven't felt is 'Why me?'  I've heard so often that it's normal or okay to feel this way, but it honestly hasn't crossed my mind.  If anything, I would think 'why anyone?'.  There are so many worse off than me.  Why should young children get cancer?  What have they ever done?  They haven't even had a chance to experience life yet.  I have met so many wonderful people so far in my journey and none of them deserve to go through this. 

They say one in three adults will experience some form of cancer in their lifetime... So the real question to ask is 'Why not me?'