The ICU

I just wanted to give a quick update on here because I know a lot of people are hearing things and wondering how I'm doing, but I really haven't been up to talking much about it. Number one reason being I have horrible sores lining my throat so it is often literally painful to talk! So here is my tale of my most horrific cancer experience yet:

It all started probably around Saturday (the 22nd) when I jinxed myself by saying, "Wow, if this is as bad as it gets, this is my best chemo yet!" Ha ha. Monday night I started to feel really bad. I threw up many times during the night and knew I had a fever because I was FREEZING. By Tuesday morning I was in bad shape. Michael had already gone to work and it took all my energy to get from my room to the living room where the thermometer and my cell phone were. I took my temperature and it was over 104 degrees! My body ached, I dared not leave my throw-up bowl, I was freezing, I had a high fever, a sore throat, and I was out of it. I called the cancer center and they told me to get my booty over to the ER. Luckily, the first person I called (Allie, who is awesome) answered her phone and acted like there was nothing she would love more than to drive me to the ER.

After many hours and many tests they found that my counts were horrible (my white blood cell count was .2 and I had 0 neutrophils). So pretty much any kind of bacteria or virus could have made me sick. They sent me up to the ICU and I was there for 2.5 days. They found out that the cause of my sickness was one puny little bacteria which would not have done anything to a healthy person, but could have seriously have taken my life if I'd tried to just tough it out a bit longer. (I'm being a little melodramatic here, because with a fever that high there's no way I would have just stayed home. Just let me be melodramatic so we can all appreciate my presence in this world that much more.)

Anyway, I have been given so many medications, it's crazy. But I have now graduated from the ICU to the normal hospital. I still don't feel great, but I feel awesome compared to the last few days. We are waiting for me to go 24 hours without a fever and for my counts to come up so I at least have some sort of immune system before I go home. Alright, I actually have some funny stories and thoughts about the whole experience, but I will save them because I am exhausted. I just felt the need to post this and let everyone know what's happening. I have felt the love and the prayers.