The Little Family

It has been along time since I last posted.  Many things have changed and many things are the same.  I still craft and sew like an addict.  I recently changed jobs to be closer to home, eliminate my commute and to lesson the amount of stress my previous workload caused.

In October of last year I began to have unbearable back pain and a host of weird symptoms.  The NP in my primary cares' office ordered some x-rays and an MRI.  I was quickly scheduled for the tests.  A week later I was referred to a spine specialist due to some bulging discs, and irregular curve in my spine and a pinched nerve.

You assume that when you see one of these highly educated and experienced specialists that they will treat you well and do no harm.  I was referred to a real jerk who told me I was "Depressed".  I thought he was bat s*** crazy, but followed thru with the physical therapy and took the medicine he prescribed.

After about 5 weeks and his continued statements about me being depressed I sought a second opinion.  I had some new symptoms that were complicating my physical therapy and alarming to my  physical therapist:  Itchy skin, swollen lymph nodes, night sweats, bruising and still a lot of pain. 

On December 17th, I had it out with the fruit cake spine specialist and made a second appointment for later that day.  I saw a second spine specialist who in a matter of minutes and a quick glance at my MRI, set some things in motion that have changed my life.  He noticed that the bone marrow levels in my spin were low and was alarmed that  no one had mentioned this or investigated further the finding on my MRI.  He left the office and came back a few minutes later.  He had called my primary care physician and told he was trying not to alarm me but that there was some potential cause for worry in my scans and I needed some follow up immediately.  So the following Monday, December 21st I saw my primary care physician and was immediately referred to MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Three days later on December 24thm yes Christmas Eve, I spent most of the day at MD Anderson meeting with doctors regarding the MRI findings, my symptoms and an elevated white blood cell count that was not sky but had been elevated for more than 2 years and fluctuated enough to hide the problems brewing inside my blood and bone marrow.

January 4th I had my first bone marrow biopsy with aspiration.  It was a blind biopsy.  The staff at the MD Anderson surgi-center were very kind but it was very painful.  I cannot explain how painful.  They cannot numb your bone, just the skin around where they are going to drill through your skin into your pelvic bone.  After 40 minutes of tying to obtain enough of a sample they finally stopped the procedure, three drill holes later.  I was assured they had enough of a sample.   

I went to my follow up appointment on January 18th thinking I was going to finally find out what was going on, only to be told that I need to have a second bone marrow biopsy as they had not obtained a sufficient sample to complete the FISH studies, the most important part of the bone marrow biopsy and study.

Boy did I have some crazy emotions, anger and anxiety set in as a result of this...

                                       

Chase just before his 1st

game ever, keep in mind this
boy never watched football,
never pretended to play football,
never wanted to play football,
never played a football video game,
NO FOOTBALL EVER...
and he did a great job
hiding it, lots of parents and
some of the coaches did not believe
that he never played or tossed
around a football prior to July.

Chase lined up with
some of his teammates...
Some of the Wildcat Cheerleaders
waiting for the JPW's to make
their grand entrance after half time...
Chase, Elijah and Zeke
after their first game,
couldn't tell they got mercied
could ya...lol.
More than once...



Chase and some of his teammates,
posing before the game that
they finally scored their 1st
touchdown in...yep 6 games
into the season their team
scores for the 1st time. Some
proud tears were shed for these
sweet, hard-working boys
who up until today, had not
scored a touchdown in
any of their games...but they
scored 2 touchdowns today,
it was a hard loss 14-12
against the Soliders who
were win-less too, until today...
They are WINNERS IN MY BOOK.
Here's my boy at half time,
having some gatorade, feeling
good about his team scoring for
the first time...so proud of them.

This 100 lb boy is finally learning to play his size.

Later he made a great tackle
and a great fumble recovery...

Heading back out...

It was a long, sought after
scoring that happened today...
last week I asked Chase if he
was tired of losing yet and his
reply was, NOPE, I'm still
having FUN...I love his attitude,
his good sportsmanship and his
ability to roll with whatever
comes his way. I am proud that
he has played his heart out, on
both defense and offense, without
alot of breaks. I am proud that
he has managed to maintain
straight A's in school, obtain
his Wolf Badge in Cub Scouts and
deal with losing another tube in his
ear all while playing football.

I see great things in store
for this sweet little man...

Love ya Buddy...
sooo proud of you.