The Journey Begins...

On June 6th, 2011, I was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. A day that I will never forget, a day that started a journey that I had not planned. It all began when I noticed that my heart was racing during regular activities like doing chores around the house. Thursday June 2nd, I wondered when this "bug" would leave my body. Little did I know that it was aggressively settling in. I would take 3 long 2hr naps during the middle of the day?! Just couldn't pull myself together to do anything. I was all too weak and tired. At one point, I tried to fold 3 t-shirts and my body wouldn't have it.

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Friday morning, I opened my eyes thinking: "It's gorgeous outside, it's gonna be a great day!". At rest, my body felt normal. I got up and felt my heart race. I thought 'no big deal' and jumped in the shower. But then it really hit me.. What in the world was going on with my body. It took all of my energy to shampoo my hair. My heart was racing so fast that it was giving me chest pains. I felt light-headed, I was seeing spots in my eyesight and had a toxic taste in my mouth. Not a good sign. I got down on my knees and gasped for air. Tears rolling down my cheeks, I told my husband that I just couldn't understand my body. Why wasn't it functioning like before. On my knees, I rinsed my hair and that was it for the shower. No conditioner, no nothing. I wrapped a towel around me and walked to our bed. I laid on it for a few minutes to give my heart a chance to slow down.

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Adam had cooked breakfast. I got dressed and walked towards the kitchen with both hands on my hips, trying to retain as much energy possible. I felt like I had taken our dog Shadow for a long walk but that wasn't the case. It was only a short distance to the table. Feeling weak, I sat down holding my head in one hand and ate with the other. Once done, I wanted to go make our bed with the help of my husband. This task was completely out of the question as my heart started racing and I felt it pounding hard. I felt weak and lightheaded again so I got down on my knees to catch my breath. Breathing deeply, I told my husband that I was absolutely exhausted and was gonna take a nap. It was a very long nap, two and a half hours. When I opened my eyes at 2:30pm, my husband immediately said "that's it, we're going to the hospital". I could only say "ok". Deep down, I knew something was wrong.

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I pulled my knees to my chest and rested during the drive to the hospital. As we parked, I thought to myself "well, here we go...". I was finally gonna get a prescription to make every symptoms go away. The walk from the parking lot to the ER was challenging, heart racing, pounding pulse, nauseous, weak and lightheaded. As I reached the reception desk, I folded my body in half to gather my strength and lower my heart from beating so fast and hard. That helped make the chest pains go away. Deep breaths.. The volunteer registered my case and said "Chest pains?!, you're way to young to have any of that". The comment was ignored while I focused on catching my breath and calming myself. Adam and I sat in the waiting room at the Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center for maybe 5 minutes. They wasted no time calling my name. I got up and followed the nurse into a little room. A long list of questions were asked and the next thing I knew, I was laying down on an examining table plugged to an ECG machine. [A machine that I had become very familiar with since I was studying to become a clinical rep for Boston Scientific]. I was then transfered to another examining room. There, they took chest x-rays followed by several blood tests. My mind tried to figure out what could possibly be doing this to my body but no answers were coming to mind with the symptoms I was having.

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My blood results came back showing that my blood was extremely low. The nurse, who was all to cute with a pretty flower in her hair, said that I needed blood transfusions...four bags! I cringed. FOUR BAGS rang really loud in my head. I never ever had a blood transfusion. That thought was not settling well with me at all. I hoped that there was another option. I didn't want unknown blood injected into my body. I proceeded to tell the nurse my health history which included a life long of having low blood. I didn't want them to make a mistake and give me blood I actually didn't need. I was trying hard to convince her that it was totally normal for my blood to be low. She looked at me straigth in the eyes and said "you're blood levels are dangerously low and we will start the transfusion now". I swallowed hard and said okay. I signed all the forms and we got started. There I went again with my "are you sure it's good healthy clean blood?!". She reassured me of all my concerns, that the blood had been checked and matched to my blood type several times. She also went on to tell me that I will be staying in the hospital overnight. Another thing that had never happened to me in my life. She explained that my room would be ready around 8pm. I took deep breaths. This was a lot to take in all at once. She added that one bag of blood would drip for 3 1/2, therefore 4 bags would take about 14hrs. I swallowed and listened.

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Once transfered in the hospital room, I felt tired. The nurse, Kelly, explained that I was in isolation and that everyone must wear masks around me. This was because my immune system was below normal levels. I understood. She repeatedly visited my room during the night to take my blood pressure, my oxygen, my temperature, my heart rate and listen to my lungs. I was being monitored closely to make sure I wasn't gonna have reactions to the blood. My husband spent the night with me, always by my side.

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Saturday, June 4th was an early morning. They rolled me down to the CT room around 5am for chest and heart images. Then a whole new series of blood tests, lots of vials for a variety of tests. After the blood transfusions were complete, the nurse said that the doctor was gonna come see me. I was looking forward to asking him "what's wrong with me??". I had breakfast and a few hours later, I was brought down again to the CT Scan for lower abdomen digital images. They wanted to cover all parts of my body. We got a nice visit from our friend Dr. Crossman. He was the first to really put it into perpective for me exactly how dangerously low my blood was when I got to the hospital. That afternoon, I received platelets and the news that my parents were flying to Florida that very night.

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Later that day, in walks the hematologist/Oncologist Dr. Michael Kelley. I was happy to see him. I was finally gonna be able to ask all my questions and get answers. He was the sweetest man with a calm soft voice. We exchanged questions and answers. Then, the news.. I needed a bone marrow biopsy. I broke down. Tears rolling down my cheeks, I couldn't believe I need that procedure. I was scared and upset.

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Sunday, June 5th was "bone marrow biopsy" day. Dr. Kelley allowed Adam to stay by my side while he performed the procedure in my hospital room. Once it was over, a huge relief lifted from my shoulders. It was done! Later that afternoon, I received another bag of platelets and a series of blood tests. The rest of the day was spent visiting with friends and family.

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To be continued...