Hey Guys,
As you all know, I was supposed to go up to Berea to visit my apartment and see all of my friends up at school on Tuesday. However, that morning as I was about to walk out the door, Debbie called and gave me some bad news - my ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) was wayyyyy too low - 290! It needs to be at 500 for me to be around a few people, and 1,000 before I can safely be in large groups without having to worry about catching every little bug. I was SO disappointed - especially because she wanted me to stay home until THURSDAY to get more bloodwork done and check all of my counts. Fortunately, though, when I called her back later that day, she told me that I could go in early on Wednesday morning to get my workup - and it was at 560! Wooo! So I took off to Berea around 10am on Wednesday.
I was super excited to stop in Columbus and visit Tyler for the afternoon - we had a FANTASTIC lunch and then Tyler took me on a driving tour of the campus area and the victorian-era part of Columbus - the houses were SO BEAUTIFUL! We also walked around the Short North a little bit since it was the middle of the day on a Wednesday and no one was around (safe for my poor white blood cells...)
I made it up to Berea around 4:15 - I FINALLY got to see Gene and Katie and Emma (and Katie and Emma's new apartment right upstairs from mine!). This morning, I was thrilled to get to go sit in on Opera Workshop (one of the classes I'm supposed to be in) and say 'hi' to Scott Skiba (one of my favorite professors) and see everyone in my class (which was... too fantastic for words...) Tonight we're having a big dinner at Cornerstone (an awesome restaurant/brewery in Berea, right next to the Conservatory), and tomorrow I'm headed to Oberlin to have a quick visit with Matt and a dinner party with the girls I went to Italy with last summer (plus Herbert, our Danish friend)
I'm going to head out (I'm in the Music Library and supposed to be working on my Thesis... whoops...) but I wanted to let you all know what was up!
Lots of Love,
Lauren
Are you studying music? So I presume you will graduate once you are done with the thesis? The strength that you are displaying here will manifest in some way in your body too. Take good care of yourself.
ReplyDeleteLife by ANC. Had to postpone my last treatment for the weekend when my ANC was down to 0.0. It can bounce around like a super ball.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to meet you in person again. Love (really!) your new look. Not everyone can carry it off, but you can! Hope you had a great time in Berea & Oberlin
ReplyDeleteLaura K. in MF
Hi! I was just diagnosed with Hodgkins, wondering if u have any words of wisdom? LOL. U look gorgeous with or without hair!
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren,
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog - lots of great reading and shared experiences. I'm a little further ahead in my treatment for Hodgkin's and headed into some more.
I would like to link to your blog (if that's okay:) for others to find you too.
Take care!
Tam