Treatment Begins...
I flew back home on December 23rd to spend Christmas with my family and then flew back on the 26th to begin treatment on this week. We had a unbelievable Christmas as a family, one that I will always cherish and reflect on with fond memories. Late in the afternoon, we went to dinner at the home of our long time family friends, the Lassiter's, this was a great way to end a near perfect day. Thank you Ed, Millie, Eric, Margo and family, Dave, Linda and family. You're awesome.
I've been faced with a few challenges over the last week; the first one was when Dr. O'Conner told me that the disease has spread. I have two behind my stomach, it is in my spleen, and I have masses in my chest. In the past, the disease was restricted to my neck and chest; this recurrence has comeback more aggressively. Dr. O'Conner insists that the disease is still treatable, however, my past two occurrences were staged IIA, this occurrence is IIIB, the good news is there was no disease in my bone marrow. On the 26th, I headed back to New York, two hours into the flight something went wrong and the pilot made an emergency landing in Denver, I took another flight and did not land in New York until 2:00a.m. and I didn't arrive at my house until 3:00 a.m. The second challenge is when I woke up yesterday morning with a low-grade fever. As the day progressed, my fever escalated to the point were doctors told me that if it went up another half a degree they were going to admit into the hospital. When I initially called my parents and told them what was going on, my Dad booked a red eye flight to New York. In past experiences, once a fever starts to develop, it only get worse for the first few days. Although this is the first time I've had a fever in two years, my parents did not want to take any chances of me being admitted into the hospital and not having one them with me. A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey had a special about hospitals, she said that everyday in America 270 people die in hospitals because of human error, this is equivalent to a 747 crashing everyday. Ever since, one of my parents have been with me 24/7, playing ten questions with every nurse and doctor who walks in. At around 5:30 p.m. my friend Katie Steiner arrived, she is going to be with me for the next week. She is such a great friend, and we have so much fun together! She was very helpful pouring fluids down me to keep me hydrated and taking my temperature, I drank so much water, I thought I was going to pop. Finally, at 10:00 p.m. my fever broke and called my Dad and told him everything was okay, he cancelled his flight. I'm starting treatment on the 28th... I'm taking a combination of drugs called MDX and CD-30. I'm getting in right on the tail end of this trial; both of these drugs have shown promise with other participating patients. I have lots of hope.
-Alese
ps- Thank you to every one who took the time to pray for me while I had a fever; and who wrote me well wishes in my guestbook. I can't put it in to words how much love I felt from all of you. THANK YOU.
I've been faced with a few challenges over the last week; the first one was when Dr. O'Conner told me that the disease has spread. I have two behind my stomach, it is in my spleen, and I have masses in my chest. In the past, the disease was restricted to my neck and chest; this recurrence has comeback more aggressively. Dr. O'Conner insists that the disease is still treatable, however, my past two occurrences were staged IIA, this occurrence is IIIB, the good news is there was no disease in my bone marrow. On the 26th, I headed back to New York, two hours into the flight something went wrong and the pilot made an emergency landing in Denver, I took another flight and did not land in New York until 2:00a.m. and I didn't arrive at my house until 3:00 a.m. The second challenge is when I woke up yesterday morning with a low-grade fever. As the day progressed, my fever escalated to the point were doctors told me that if it went up another half a degree they were going to admit into the hospital. When I initially called my parents and told them what was going on, my Dad booked a red eye flight to New York. In past experiences, once a fever starts to develop, it only get worse for the first few days. Although this is the first time I've had a fever in two years, my parents did not want to take any chances of me being admitted into the hospital and not having one them with me. A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey had a special about hospitals, she said that everyday in America 270 people die in hospitals because of human error, this is equivalent to a 747 crashing everyday. Ever since, one of my parents have been with me 24/7, playing ten questions with every nurse and doctor who walks in. At around 5:30 p.m. my friend Katie Steiner arrived, she is going to be with me for the next week. She is such a great friend, and we have so much fun together! She was very helpful pouring fluids down me to keep me hydrated and taking my temperature, I drank so much water, I thought I was going to pop. Finally, at 10:00 p.m. my fever broke and called my Dad and told him everything was okay, he cancelled his flight. I'm starting treatment on the 28th... I'm taking a combination of drugs called MDX and CD-30. I'm getting in right on the tail end of this trial; both of these drugs have shown promise with other participating patients. I have lots of hope.
-Alese
ps- Thank you to every one who took the time to pray for me while I had a fever; and who wrote me well wishes in my guestbook. I can't put it in to words how much love I felt from all of you. THANK YOU.
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