Good News

Dear readers,

I'm aware that I haven't blogged in awhile. Again. I decided not to bore you all with my continual crappiness. The past few weeks have been pretty tough, as have the past few months. For a quick update, I am still doing the iron chelation and the drug has become a little more tolerable. I'm able to eat more regularly and haven't thrown up in awhile. I still have stomach problems and I've still been feeling pretty crummy but it's more manageable at this point.

As far as my mood, it's no lie that I've been struggling with anxiety and depression since I got home. Anyone who knows anything about what I've been through would not be surprised to hear that. It's hard to admit to feeling depressed because it requires you to admit a weakness and admit not having control over things. As I've said before, I'm learning it's ok to NOT be ok. It's ok to have a bad day. It's ok to feel like crap. It's ok to wish things were different. As long as you realize that life won't always be like this. I'm happy to say that although I feel depressed a lot, I do feel in control because I can distinguish the fact that I will not always be depressed. Life is unpredictable and things can always change.

(clever segway to my good news!)

Speaking of change..... :)

Today I went to the hospital for a clinic visit for the third day in a row. Today I was just there for four hours to get some phosphorus by IV. A few hours in, my Nurse, Cathy, walked by and here's a lovely little play-by-play (as I remember it).

Cathy: Have you checked your email yet?

Me: What email?

Cathy: I'll be right back!

(walks away and comes back with two pieces of paper)

Cathy: The first page is the chart I sent to Doctor Tolar (my doctor in minneapolis). It's a chart to show your ferritin levels decreasing from the iron chelation we've been doing. The second page is the response that he sent me.

(I take the second page)

Second page: "Cathy, I think Elizabeth is ready to come for transplant now that her ferritin is below 1,000. She is remarkable! JT"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <-- lots of exclamation points

That's right ladies and gentlemen. I'm ready for transplant! I've been on this drug for three months and they expected it to take 6-12 months for my ferritin to be low enough to get me ready transplant. There was even a chance that my ferritin would never be low enough to safely transplant. My results have been, as Tolar said, "remarkable"!

So what now? Well, I'm going to pack up my things, again, and move back to minneapolis for transplant! For those of you who have not been following my blog, you're probably quite confused by this post. Sorry, you'll need to catch up on your own. After talking to my parents, It looks like I'm going to leave in about a month- April 17/18. This will hopefully give me time to pack up, clean, and maybe finish my last class so that I can basically graduate before I leave.

I think that's enough good news for one day. I will be updating more frequently as things unfold and as I plan to embark on this tough journey.......again.

PS- For those of you who have not already done this, you can get emails every time I post if you type your email in the box on the left. This takes away the hassle of having to check my blog on your own and allows you to keep up with my crazy journey.

Hope everyone else is having a great day!

Another PS- Special thanks to everyone who donated blood a few weeks ago at school. I get transfusions every 2 1/2 weeks and I can tell you, donating blood really does save lives! Without people like you, I would not be here right now. Thank you for your selfless actions.

Reason of the Day: This whole post? Duh! Good news is always a reason to smile (RTS).