On the first 10 days (and the day before)

I apologize for the long post that you are about to read. Medical Definitions can be found on the front page of my blog.

Day 0- April 17th

April 17th started like just another regular day. Well, sort of. After throwing up and spiking a fever the night before, I was being quarantined in my room until my doctor's appointment later that day. The doctor ordered an ultrasound of my appendix (because we were going off of the assumption that I had appendicitis), and asked if I would like bloodwork ordered. I hate needles, so I tried to avoid this at all costs. My mom ended up accepting. I had to be NPO for both the ultrasound and bloodwork, so I ended up not being able to eat until well after 6 o'clock. My mom got a call from my doctor that evening, and it was not good news. She explained that the bloodwork came back with abnormal results, so I would need to be admitted to McLane Children's Hospital in Temple ASAP. She said that they were most likely looking at cancer. I vomited from anxiety. We packed our bags and said goodbye to my brother and dad, and then drove off. First stop was the ER, where we did more bloodwork and a CT scan. This was where I had a nasty reaction to an antibiotic called cefepime (although then we thought it was something else). By the time all of that was done, it was 2 AM. I was admitted.

 

Day 1- April 18th

The next morning I was given more cefepime. Once we figured out that this medicine was the one causing me trouble, we stopped. My oncologist (who will be known as Dr. K on this blog) came in around 10:30 to give us a preliminary diagnosis. At first, he said that I had "disease of the white blood cells." I sighed in relief, glad that I didn't have cancer. But my reaction came too early. He finished his sentence, saying I had leukemia. Time stopped. Our three minutes were up. 

Days 2-10 (April 19th- April 27th)

I didn't actually start chemo until Day 7, so I had time to relax and make everything as normal as possible. I quickly learned the TV channel numbers for ESPN and Food Network. My mom and I set a goal to name virtually every inanimate object in my hospital room. The loud air vent in the bathroom became "Howard." The sensitive paper towel dispenser became "Karen." My IV pole became "Jonathan Van Ness." I had zoom calls with my soccer teammates and friends from school. My uncle bought me Animal Crossing for my Nintendo Switch, and we played a lot. We frequently saw the therapy dog, Lorenzo. I had a bone marrow biopsy on Day 5. After that, Dr. K gave me the choice of having a PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) line or a port. Ports are in the chest, while PICC lines are in the upper arm. I chose port. We had my first dose of chemo along with my port placement on Day 7. After being bumped in my port site while I was accessed (the needle was in), we had to de-access and re-access me. This was incredibly painful due to the fact that I had a "butterfly needle" in. This type of needle locks on to the skin, which is different from regular needles. On Day 10, I received my first batch of Beads of Courage. Beads of Courage is a national program for kids with diseases and illnesses such as cancer. My cousin Oliver, who had CHD (Congenital Heart Defect), also had Beads of Courage. I was then discharged, and sent home to start living my new normal.

"Life changes very quickly, in a very POSITIVE way if you let it."

-Lindsey Vonn