Already Out...

Hey Guys,

Well, I'm already missing class, which totally sucks.

My mom (who's been through this whole cancer thing before with Brian) had been worried that I wasn't getting bloodwork often enough. When Brian was on chemo and going to elementary school, his doctor had him get bloodwork ALL THE TIME to make sure that his counts were high enough to go to school. My mom and his nurse were able to track and predict when his counts would drop so that the school could give him his work ahead of time so he could keep up with his class (which worked out so well!)

Unfortunately, I hadn't been told to get bloodwork as often - my mom mentioned this to Debbie, who told her it was ok. However, when my mom sat down to track my counts so I could give some warning to my professors, she realized that I'd never gotten bloodwork done when my counts were dropping - only when they were rising. On an instinct, she sent me in herself to get bloodwork done this morning (since I have a standing order, I can basically go in whenever - there's no specific date on the paperwork). I wasn't expecting them to drop until Friday at the earliest, so I got up, showered, got dressed for class, ate breakfast, and stopped by the outpatient clinic.

aaaaand....drumroll.... my ANC was 450!!!!!! For those of you who don't know, it has to be 500 to go out in public, and normal is in the THOUSANDS. So... back home I went, and back into the sweats. I was excited, too, because I had a new dress I'd been wanting to wear to class (but that's beside the point...)

I'm disappoined because I was hoping my counts would be low over the weekend so I'd maybe only miss a day or so of class. Now it's looking like I might be missing the entire week! I'm crossing my fingers I'll be cool for Friday.

I guess this means I'll have more time to work on my research... or to watch movies...

Also, my mom's feeling a little under the weather, so I'm hoping she feels better soon! She hardly ever gets sick, but she does such a good job taking care of all of us that sometimes she needs us to take care of her!

Lots of Love,

Lauren