May 17 - new chapter - bizzare

It's May 17th - heya Norge day! There are photos below.

So why not just write about it publicly?

The past two days have been eventful, I‘ve tried some cool things and some not so great things. Since Wednesday morning I have fainted... 3x, visited a clinic before its opening time, had the second blood draw of my life... followed by TOO many... WAY TOO MANY. My veins were so pretty and fine they couldn‘t even find them and when they got to them they couldn't fill their little cup. Needless to say, my hands are pretty blue at the moment. Ok, back to my list... I also met incredible and handsome, caring doctors and nurses, stayed in the ICU where a nurse was dedicated to only me.

UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot to say that I got to ride in an ambulance... between the two hospitals. It was pretty cool. 

Then I had a huge needle inserted that sucked out a sample of my bone marrow. I was so drugged I can‘t remember a thing... thankfully! I asked the nurse later, and she said I’d squeezed her hand pretty hard. Then I also have a thin tube in my chest, below my neck so they can shoot and draw straight through so there won‘t be any more needles for me. YAY.

So you’re probably wondering: What’s going on? I actually finished this blog post and then noticed I had never mentioned it. Well, I came into the emergency because I had fainted at home, felt dizzy and could hardly stand. The doctors ran tests and my blood work was all messed up. I hardly had any platelets... which is dangerous. A minor cut and I could’ve bled out. Then they found that my white blood cells didn’t look all too fancy. Too many of them were immature and multiplying to fast.

My diagnosis is ‘acute promyelocytic leukemia’. Or since I'm becoming so familiar with medical terminology, we can just call it APL-M3. Haha. It is so acute that I’m already doing my 2nd day of treatment. This disease in particular has been researched a lot in the past years and the treatment has been dramatically improved. Patients my age in particular, tend to do really well so that is good to know.

I‘ve stopped counting the number of glasses of beetroot juice I‘ve drunken.  They actually have pretty decent vegan food here. I must say I was surprised. My mom does supplement it though with the many missing things. I’m in protective isolation so they’d rather not let me have visitors at the moment, only immediate family. I’m sensitive to infections so the food I get is even specially prepared. Everything has to be cooked to make sure there are no germs in it. Pretty much desensitized. The variety of fresh food is limited. I shouldn’t have vulnerable foods like salad. But I’m planning to eat a lot of fruit tomorrow. I can eat have it if it comes unsliced and unpeeled. I’m craving an orange.

My cousin came and cut my hair today. I like it, I was planning on cutting it short for the summer and there’s no way I want to be washing and brushing the crazy hair I had before.

I’m glad to have my own room, it’s spacious with big windows and a painting of a yellow bird. There’s a lazy boy for my lazy of visitors, who yet haven’t received permission to visit ;) Then there’s a 2^nd bed for when my mom wants to nap.

This is all very new and happening very fast so I’ll just have to adjust fast (never really had a problem with that). Now comes the Golden Globe part: I of course want to thank my very supportive family for being awesome. Also, the most incredible hospital staff that is genuinely caring, supportive and intelligent and takes the time to do whatever my mind comes up with (nursing friends and students... make sure to be that way!). Then there are my wonderful friends who are unfortunately/fortunately (not sure which) spread all over the world. I’m comforted to know that so many are praying for me, even people I don’t know.

It will be interesting so how this goes. It’s a big project but the doctors are positive. I pray that God will guide their minds and that the treatment works for me. The scary part is all the side effects and possible damage; I really hope it goes well. 

I just need a big project to work on this summer. Something fun, challenging and computerized. I’ll definitely brush up my German, and maybe I should learn Spanish. Who knows, maybe I will have knit a sweater for you all by the time I get out of here... or painted a gorgeous piece of art (yes, don’t worry... that was a joke).

WayAnne, darling, I don’t have an excuse anymore.  I promise to reply to your emails.  

PS. pray please

PSS. I'd love if you'd comment or sign the guest book so I know who you are ;) DO IT NOW!

The 'ready to take a stroll down the hall' look.

Yes? No? Yes? No? Not a chance!

The gadget lady who is learning so much new terminology. Be happy you can't see my pants. LOL.

Keeping the lazy-boy warm.