The past week and a half has been anything but easy. Shortly after chemo, I spiked a fever along with sweats and chills. I was hopeful that I could “ride it out” at home, but the low grade fever still remained after alternating the Tylenol and ibuprofen. After a conversation with my nurse, and very low blood pressure the day prior in the clinic, I was sent to the Emergency Room for further workup.

The visit to the ER was a nightmare. My heart rate and blood pressure were both extremely high upon arrival. When I was finally taken back to a room, blood was needed for cultures which turned into a 30 minute event. For these particular cultures, two different blood collection sites were needed. They did not want to use my PICC line thus the nurse drew blood from my “good vein” but still needed another site for the second part. After looking unsuccessfully for five minutes, she told me she was going to get their specialist who had an ultrasound to find the second draw location. The “specialist” arrived with his ultrasound to find the vein for a “quick blood draw”. He promised that it would be a quick pinch as he found a spot on the inner part of my arm. Well, that quick blood draw lasted more than ten minutes. I remember looking at Terry while he was digging in my arm and tears rolling down my face. I finally said “I am done. We won’t be getting any more blood right now” and asked him to stop. I have never asked anyone to stop in regards to healthcare and pain, but at that moment I felt empowered. Afterward, it seemed as if he would have kept “trying” until he succeeded no matter the ramifications.

I spent 3 days in the hospital receiving IV antibiotics to treat sepsis. Luckily, my nurses on the oncology floors were wonderful. The brightest part of the stay was the attending oncology physician. Every time he came into the room, he would say with the most exciting voice you can imagine, “Your blood doctors are here!”. It may not seem like much, but we needed something, after all the TV in the room didn’t work for 12 hours due to a power outage. We needed some entertainment from something and the “blood doctor” provided it. Each day, I asked when I would be able to go home, and after a little persuasion on my part, I was able to convince the oncologist to release me Sunday night. See what the oncologist did not know was my husband was leaving out of town and there was no way that my kiddos wouldn’t have either their Mom or Dad at their Fall Parties with them. I was determined to leave the hospital one way or another.

Well even with my determination, I didn’t make it to all 3 events. I was able to attend Emery’s fall party and watch Rowan at his preschool parade before the exhaustion was too much. Thankfully my Mom and mother-in-law stepped in and decorated the car and handed out candy at Rowan’s trunk or treat in my absence. We honestly couldn’t have done last week without them.

Although I didn’t have chemo this past week, the exhaustion has remained along with new mouth sores. I have spent the majority of my days sleeping so that I can spend quality time with the family after school.

The additional sleep will be needed this week, as this week is a HUGE week. Tomorrow morning is my PET scan. This PET scan will show whether or not I am in complete remission. If I am in complete remission, we will move immediately into a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) workup. If it shows active cancer, then I will have to complete additional rounds of chemotherapy before the Bone Marrow Transplant. As scared as I am of the BMT, I need it to be the next step.