Subs, Salads, Sushi -- oh my!

GOOD NEWS!! This past week, my neutrophils went up to 7600!! HIGHER THAN WHEN I STARTED TREATMENT. This meant that I could indulge in all the fresh/raw vegetables and undercooked meat I wanted. The doctor also said that I could rub someone else's snot on my face, but I stuck with lettuce on my sandwich instead. This is a HUGE small victory for me. I went from eating tons of vegetables to my only vegetables being french fries, and while everyone can justify a couple potatoes in some french fries, I'm kind of over it. (GASP!)

My very first shred of lettuce since treatment started :) Thank you Jimmy Johns for delivering so fast! 

Anyways, so this week has been pretty good. I got to skip my doses of Neupogen on Friday and today, and wait to see what this week's blood work says. (cross your fingers...) My hemoglobin level is still 8.5 which is really low -- meaning I'm still anemic -- but the doctor said that as long as it stays above 8, and I'm not incapacitated they probably won't do anything. If it drops lower, I could need to take ANOTHER shot called Procrit (i think) which is basically the same as the neupogen but for hemoglobin.

On another note, when I went to get my blood work drawn this past week, the phlebotomist asked if i was alive because he couldn't find any veins. They stuck me....not once, not TWICE but FIVE times...twice in the same vein. Needless to say, they couldn't draw enough blood so I had to go back on Wednesday morning. I worked really hard Tuesday night to drink loads of water, so the blood came out easy-peasy on Wednesday morning.

I also got a festive care package this week from Aunt Patty -- yummmmgobblegobbleyummm -- 

Turkey Cookies!

My mom got here friday and she's been dutifully taking care of me and helping get my life reassembled. I don't have enough energy to file papers and stuff so the medical paraphernalia is piling up! This Thanksgiving will be atypical with very small dishes of a bunch of different things because I'm not sure what I'll like to eat.

Anyways, that's it for this week...cross your fingers all my counts stay the same.