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Saturday,
Feb 23, 2008
Hey Everyone,
I haven't done an update for a while so
I thought I would take a minute and fill ya'll in on Shelsi. I
know many of you probably got the link to her latest blog update.
If not, it's worth taking a look. Her " Please Help!"
with the picture of the hat is hilarious? I laughed till I cried
when I saw that. What a sense of humor she still has.
Last week was a pretty rough week. Monday,
what started out as a trip to Cedars Sinai for a blood test and
then a trip home before rush hour, ended up being a 4 day stay
in the hospital. She was supposed to get chemo that day, but the
blood work she had done on Friday indicated her counts were too
low. So they told her to come back on Monday, and if by some miracle
they had risen, they may still do chemo. It wasn't that she necessarily
wanted chemo, it just meant that if she got it she would be one
step closer to her stem cell transplant and a whole new immune
system. So she was pretty disappointed when her counts dropped
so far.
When they drew her blood on Monday, they
came in a little later and told her they were going to admit her.
Her immune system was basically non existent, and she had evidently
caught the flu so was running a fever and had a cough. So they
started her on IV fluids and antibiotics. After she was finally
moved out of the cancer center and into a room, things went from
bad to worse. She started getting nauseous and throwing up. Eventually
they had to give her a medication called Compizine that stops
severe vomiting. It not only worked like a charm for what it was
supposed to do, but it also knocked her out so she was able to
sleep the rest of the night, and most of the following day.
Eventually the vomiting started again,
though, so she got another dose, which seemed to take care of
it. Her sister Kira also helped. Shelsi started getting nauseous
while talking to her on the phone, so Kira walked her through
some guided imagery of being on the beach, with the warm sun shining
down on her (I think that's how it went). And Shelsi said it really
worked. After that, every time she started feeling sick she did
the visual imagery and didn't throw up again at all while she
was there. Way to go Kira, see what I told you about that gift
you have?
On Tuesday night they gave her an immune
boosting shot of Neupogen, and that really did the trick. By Thursday
her counts were back to normal, and her fever had broken so they
decided it was safe to send her home.
Her strong dedicated hubby Eric has been
working really hard trying to put in time so he'll have some free
time once the stem cell process gets in full swing. What a great
guy he is! We all love and appreciate him so much.
She goes back in Monday night as an out
patient in the cancer center for the dose of chemo she was supposed
to get last Monday. They give her one dose at 8:00 pm and another
at 8:a.m. Then later that day after they have hydrated her she
gets to go home.
After that, she is scheduled to have her
stem cells drawn March 17, St. Patrick's day. (Let's pray the
luck of the Irish are with us that day.)
Then she will get 7 straight days of chemo
to wipe out her immune system again, only this time intentionally.
Once her counts are at zero they will reintroduce her purified
cells back into her body, and then just wait for them to do their
thing.
We're almost there! Keep praying.
Much Love
Sheri and Family.
/lass="PicCaption">Dressed For Winter
/cCaption">Shel and Friends -- Feb 07
/Caption">Shel Chillin Last September
Sister Kira's B-Day (2007)
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