Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Heyyy, I'm still here, hehe!!!


Ok, first day of treatment. I won't call it day one cuz they consider the day they give me the stem cells day zero which is on Thursday 22nd. So today is day -3?!

Well, whatever day it is, it was rougher than expected but still bearable, hamdilla. After having had a disrupted sleep because of the bloods coming and going, I finally woke up, full of energy of course, and started getting ready to go down to my first TBI scheduled at 9:00. btw, i need to do 8 of those in 4 days, (ya3ni twice daily for those mathematically impaired!) They took me down in a wheelchair around 9:20 and had yet another gyt explain the procedure for me and make me sign yet another consent... Anyway, after finally taking me in, they spent a good hour just positioning me and sticking on stuff... the actual radiation took 20 min and didn't hurt at all!

when i went back up to my room, i was greeted by the nurse and 4 bottles of high dose chemotherapy! yippe kay-aye! that went rather smoothly too and lasted till my 2nd radiation session.

well, to cut a long story short, i can tell u that radiation turned out to be no piece of cake. and this is just from the first 2 sessions. i have constant, unquenchable thirst. i can't drink any more water lest i will drown! and my eyes are red and blurry. i have soft 'bowels' (sorry bout that!), my jaw is swollen and hurts to the touch and i feel sleepy most of the time. but we have to admit these symptoms are far better than the other ones like vomitting and diarrhea... so, I guess once again, thank God for being easy on me! hope He keeps it up the next few days (or months!) (or years!!!) (Is it too much? do u think I'm asking a lot of Him??) nahhhhhhh. God is great! He'll understand and cooperate.

tomoro ma fi chemo, yay. just the two sessions of TBI. Hope that goes well and not worse than today. And if you know of a better thirst quencher than water, drop me a line.


tks

mwah

H

p.s. (Cristina tks for the puzzle!!! You didn't have to, really. You're so sweeeet! My God, how am I ever going to finish it?)

9 comments:

Bobbie said...

Yay! So glad you are through this part and still able to blog and let us know how you are. Try some lemon in your water, it helps I think. Also chewing gum might help if you can get any saliva going while you chew. When will day zero be? God is great and will hold you in his hands while you go through this. Bless you dear!

ZanBarrage said...

Ya Habibti I hope you feel better soon with all this. I wish we could be with you and Wissam.

Try Gatorade if they allow you to drink it. It rebalances the ions in your system...or something like that. Keep writing please. I'll call on the weekend.

Love from all of us here!

Rima said...

No, no, no - you don't need to mess with your electrolytes (not your ions). A small trick: suck on small pieces of ice, it fools your mouth into thinking it's drinking, and will keep your tongue moist. And numb.
Love you, habibti - thinking of you always, and praying as much as I know how.

rabab Audi said...

Habibti Hallouli

May God protect you and keep your high sprit, keep sucking ice it is the best in this situation and keep writting to us so as to transport our energy and prayers to you.
love you

rabab Audi said...

Habibti Hallouli

May God protect you and keep your high sprit, keep sucking ice it is the best in this situation and keep writting to us so as to transport our energy and prayers to you.
love you

Ramzi & Reem Ghannoum said...

We are all praying for you and yes God is great and he will protect you. You're doing great so far, keep up the good work habibiti, we're all so proud of you. I guess the ice thing seems the most logical and safe thing to do, or maybe an ice loli or something of that sort.

SOSCRAPPED said...

Ice pops!!! The cherry flavoured ones are my favourites! Or I could send you some snow and ice from Montreal.... everything's white out there!!!

Cristina said...

Ciao Hala,
I am glad you appreciated; this is a funny diversion during the long days of convalescence after the BMT when you will have regained all your energies and you shall stay in the hospital only to please doctors.... or maybe your daugthers will have fun with it once back home!! Enjoy it.
So on 22nd you will have your stam cells and if I am not wrong tomorrow is Fadi's turn...a big "in bocca al lupo" to both... soon you will feel better.. with such a donor, nothing to fear.
Take care
Cristina

Unknown said...

If only everyone going thru this journey took it as lightly as u do! The world will be a bette place... your courage is so amazing and u draw such clear pictures but with a few additional coluorful brush strokes that make everything look and seem easy...

Hats off to you and good luck and prayers are on dear..all the time every day...

GOD IS GREAT and will hold u by the hand and if ur so tired GOD will even carry u through...

MAY GOD BLESS U DEAR