Looking Good

I'm talking about my labs... haha... they're finally looking good. I went to Kaiser earlier to get my blood drawn. Just got the results not too long ago and so happy to finally see my liver enzymes close to normal. If you have been following my blog, then you already know that I've been having issues with my liver. At first, the doctors thought it was Graft-vs-Host, but later on found out that my high levels of Iron (due to multiple transfusions) may be causing it. So I've been having a unit of blood removed every month since August. And now it's confirmed that my elevated liver enzymes are due to elevated Iron in my blood. Glad that problem is finally getting fixed.

Here are some pictures I took of Danica at Kaiser, after I got my blood drawn.

When we got home, we ate lunch and walked Mr. Miyagi. And now it's official... every time we walk the dog, we have to stop and pick some flowers. 

She loves to smell the flowers.

She loves to kiss them.

She loves to play peek-a-boo with me, but only with one hand because she's holding the flowers with the other hand.

First Haircut Since Chemo

I did it! After months of hesitation, I finally walked in a salon, sat on the chair and got my first trim since Chemotherapy. Prior to losing my hair, my last cut was at City of Hope. My hair started to fall out the day after I received my last round of chemo, so I called the hairdresser to my room and she chopped my hair off. I had a boy cut. Haha! I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was crying so hard. I didn't want to cry. I wanted the lady to leave my room before I could start crying, but I couldn't hold my tears  back. They just started rolling down my cheeks. She said I still look beautiful, of course, that was a lie. She gave me a mirror and I cried even more when I saw myself. I'm sure you all are tired of me talking about my hair... blah...blah...blah. I went from having long hair to having none! So it is a big deal to me. But what is more important is that I am alive. God has given me a chance to become a better person. I'm grateful for everything He has done for me, for changing my heart and my priorities in life. He has given me more time. More time to be with my loving husband and my sweet daughter. I love them so much.

 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.  Exodus 15:2 

Before chemo:

8 months post chemo:

1 year, 3 months post chemo (got my hair trimmed today):

  

Family Picture

Here is our most recent family picture, taken by my sister, Viv, at a baby shower. My younger sister's baby shower, that is. She is having a boy and we are so excited to meet the little booger (what his mom calls him). His name is Nicholas and will be out of his mom's belly in a couple of weeks. Hooray, we finally have a boy in the family (other than the husbands and the dog... lol).

I am one year and three months post chemo.  I wear  my short hair on a side pony. Not too shabby.

I'm Back!

Sorry, I have been missing in action for a while. My google account got hacked twice, so I decided to take my blog down. Anyway, the family and I are doing well. My hair is slowly growing, Raul got promoted at work, and Danica is now 18 months old. Time flies when you're having too much fun. Speaking of fun, I am definitely enjoying my life as a stay-at-home wife/mommy. It's a lot of work, but it's so worth it. Last week, the nurse at the Bone Marrow Transplant Department asked me, "So what do you do at home? Nothing?" Boy, was I so upset. Seriously, I do everything at home. I clean the house at least twice a day. I prepare three meals a day (Raul comes home for lunch), except on Saturdays (that's my day off from the kitchen). I read to Danica twice a day. I disinfect her toys. I do laundry twice a week. And more...I mean, seriously, I work just as hard as a full-time employee. And my day does not end at 5 pm. What really ticked me off is the fact that the nurse knows what I just went through. I just had a bone marrow transplant. That's kind of like a big deal. Let me correct that, it is a big deal! Especially since I was pregnant when I was diagnosed with this horrible blood disorder. Some people really know how to get on my nerve.

Enough ranting. Haha. Have you been watching the Olympics? I love it! Man, they are all so good at what they do. Makes me wish I was an athlete. Maybe if I start Danica at an early age, she can be one. We'll see about that. She is currently obsessing over balloons.

Happy Birthday To Me

Well, it's not really my actual birthday, it's my bone marrow's 1st birthday. LOL. If you're new to my blog, I had a bone marrow transplant (I had Aplastic Anemia and Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria) on May 24, 2011 at City of Hope in Duarte, CA. I can't believe it has been a year. My blood counts have been normal and I haven't had a transfusion since June 4, 2011. I'm glad those days are over with. I can't imagine getting transfusions every week, like I used to. That is why I'm so grateful to my donor, he really did save my life. Because of God and because of my donor, I'm alive and enjoying life with family and friends. I love my life. I appreciate everything and I don't take anything for granted, because I know how it feels to not be able to walk, I know how it feels to not be able to breathe, I know how it feels to be poked with a needle at least six times a week, I know how it feels to be disabled. I've learned so much from my experience and I'm glad that I'm here and able to share my story with family and friends. God is good, all the time. He always has a reason for everything that happens in our lives. God is much bigger than we are, if we just give everything to the Lord, He will take care of everything for us. When we surrender to God, joy and peace can be ours. 

Jeremiah 29:11-14 says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. 

Here I am, one year after chemo and transplant. My hair is getting longer. It's super curly, so I flat iron my bangs. My mom treated me out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory for my first birthday. Now, I have two birthdays. I feel so special =)

Happy 1st birthday to my bone marrow. May you live long and thrive!

Anniversary Dinner

Last Tuesday, May 1st, Raul and I celebrated our 2nd year wedding anniversary. It's so cool how things worked out for us. On May 1st, 2001, he asked me to be his girlfriend, I said, "yes." Eight years later, he asked me to be his wife. Of course I said, "yes." We got married on our ninth year together... May 1st, 2010 (which ended up being a Saturday... how perfect!). I thought it was pretty neat that we got married on the same date we started dating. So, we have one anniversary date. Yippee!

Anyway, last Tuesday for our anniversary, we had dinner at Roy's Hawaiian Fusion in Woodland Hills. The food was amazing. I loved everything we got. For appetizer, we got the Lobster California Roll. Raul had Lobster and Steak, while I had the Misoyaki Butterfish. The butterfish was a bit salty, but the texture was just perfect. We also got drinks, I got a virgin drink since I'm not allowed to have alcohol due to my meds. But the best part was dessert. Before I forget, I wanted to share that Danica got a free meal and dessert. We had a total of 3 desserts, but we only ordered one. What we paid for was the Chocolate Souffle, then we got a "Happy Anniversary" dessert, and Danica got ice cream on a chocolate mold. Of course, I didn't give it to her because she's too young. I don't want to introduce her to sweets yet, because I know she will like it. Haha! I'm very careful with what I feed her, too. She mostly eats chicken (white meat, preferably), veggies, eggs, fruits and dairies.

Alright, that's all for now. Happy anniversary, hun (if you're reading this)! I know you will. Can't wait for our New York trip! We'll have so much fun! Love you =)

P.S. - I'm almost a year post Bone Marrow Transplant. My hair is so curly, especially on the back. I flat ironed my bangs. Hehe. I can't wait until it gets longer. Cheers!

Inspirational Quotes

I took photos of these lovely flowers earlier when Raul and I took Danica for a bike ride. Please click to enlarge and view the quotes that I have added. Hope you love it!

Also wanted to let you guys know that I received the information in the mail regarding the Annual Bone Marrow Transplant Reunion at City of Hope. I am so excited to be a part of it and I hope my donor will be there. If you do not know yet, my donor is unrelated. I don't know anything about him except that he was 43 years old when he saved my life. I love him, whoever he is. God bless him!

And Another One...

My liver enzymes have been fluctuating since September of last year, so my BMT doctors started me on Prednisone. They tried to wean me off the steroid, but my ALT and AST labs went up again. Three weeks ago, one of the doctors decided to put me back on high dosage of Prednisone to control the GVHD in my liver, it worked... for a while... until he tried to wean me off the drug again. So, I've noticed that if I take less than 20mg of Prednisone a day, my labs come back out of whack. The thing is, I can't be on Prednisone for this long. It is killing me... well, not really. I only say that because it makes me super hungry. I'm eating like there's no tomorrow. I've gained 6 lbs in the last couple of weeks. My face looks so swollen. My stomach is distended. Plus, there's a chance I could have diabetes with this drug. So, I'm on this new medication called Mycophenolate. Basically, it's an immunosuppressant used to prevent rejection following a transplant. One of the side effects is it may lower my blood count (but not to the point where I will need transfusion again, at least I hope not... well, my doctor will keep an eye on me). I get my blood drawn every week, just to make sure I'm okay. Also, to determine whether there will be changes with my medications. I pray that this drug will work for me. Please, Lord, continue to heal me. I just want to be normal again.

Benadryl

I just wasted the past couple of hours, napping, thanks to Benadryl. I ate a purple yam candy and all of a sudden felt my right eye puffing up. So, I took 50 mg of Benadryl and here I am two hours later. My eye is still a bit puffed up but it's tolerable. Not sure what happened there because I've had purple yam in the past.

Earlier today, I went to see my BMT doctor at Kaiser Sunset. My liver enzymes are still a bit high, so I've been on high dosages of steroids and immunosuppressants... again. I have Chronic Graft vs Host in my liver, that's causing the enzymes to go out of whack. For now, I'm seeing my doctor every 2 weeks and getting blood drawn every week to monitor my labs. I'm just thankful that I am not needing transfusions anymore. I've been transfusion-free since June 4th, 2011.

In the background, I hear Raul reading books to Danica, so I think I will stop here and just enjoy what I'm hearing... I love them!

Day 80

I must have miscounted my days. So I'm now 80 days post Bone Marrow Transplant and I'm feeling better than ever. My labs look great. Because I go for check-ups every week, I got to know my nurses really well and they got to know me too. The nurses at City of Hope are awesome, they are very professional unlike Kaiser nurses (at least the ones I've had in the past). It's unfair for me to say that all Kaiser nurses are horrible, but from my personal experience, most of them are terrible and don't care about their patients.

Today, I heard from a good friend, Louie. I haven't heard from him nor seen him in such a long time. I was surprised to get a call from him. He is getting married this October. I love weddings!!! Now, what to wear?

* This was actually yesterday's blog, I forgot to hit "Publish Post"

Day 30

Ive made it to my 1st month Post Bone Marrow Transplant. In about ten more weeks, I can finally eat whatever I want to. Let's just say by my birthday, September 16, yup I thinks that's a good deadline. My taste buds are slowly recovering. Sweets are still on the very sweet side and that metallic taste is slowly fading away.

Today is my Mom's 60th birthday. I feel bad that we can't go out for dinner due to my condition and special diet that I'm on. I know she wants to celebrate big time, I feel awful. I promise to make it up to her when I'm feeling better. Happy birthday to my Mom and also a shout out to the other Vivien, my sister, that is. It was her 33rd birthday yesterday. How time flies... And I'll be 30 this September... Wow!