A lot has happened in the last couple weeks, but mainly haven't felt up to updating the blog.

Right now - I'm doing good. But two weeks ago, I started having slight fevers and my spleen was getting more and more uncomfortable. At night, the only way I could comfortably get sleep was frequently by going out to the couch and sleeping in a sitting position (which thankfully I can do all the time on planes so wasn't a weird experience). When I lay flat, the weight of the spleen and size just was uncomfortable and after laying for about 1/2 hour on my back, it would start hurting. As to the fevers, Dan called my doctor and he prescribed an antibiotic that Dan was able to pick up for me. That did help a little, but by the time of my next regular doctors appointment (last Tues, Sep 23), I was still very warm, weak, had body aches and just generally felt like shit.

The appointment though went fantastic - the doctor immediately said, we need to get that spleen out soon. The surgeon he referred me to the previous week had called me back and had said that the surgeon was out of town until Oct 7, but I could get a consult appointment for the 7th. My doctor (Dr. Spears) hadn't known that the surgeon was going to be out and we all agreed Oct 7 was too far away. He got on the phone first with the hospital, to get started me being re-admitted then called another surgeon (Dr. Swanson) he equally recommended. While we're all sitting there, he got a hold of the Dr Swanson and they consulted, Spears describing my whole situation. Dr Swanson agreed with the need for the spleenectomy and they both thought that early the following week would be best. This would give time for the hospital to pre-treat me, giving me more antibiotics, blood and treatment so that I would be as strong as possible going into the surgury.

Well - surgury is scheduled - for tomorrow at noon. They'll start prepping me at 11AM. And me - well, physically, I'm feeling really good. The hydration, the blood and all of the other prep has made me stronger and my various blood stats a lot better than when I checked in last Tuesday. Today, I'm getting one last transfusion of platelets to help boost those numbers and make my recovery better.

Mentally/emotionally - I'm all over the place. I can NOT wait for the surgury to happen - the spleen really is ... a HUGE irratation. For the long term, it being gone may make the rest of the chemo treatments easier or at least it won't be there to potentially interfere with the treatments. But other than my wisdom teeth, I've never had anything removed. And this won't be just a simple surgury considering the size of my spleen (34 cm long). The cut will be about 12 inches long - Dr Swanson showed me the cut he'd make - starting at my left love handle up diagonally to the base of my chestbone. So big scar but also big area that will be sore for a while. And then over the weekend, occasionally had morbid thoughts about what would happen if I didn't make it through surgury (my sister didn't help, pushing me on "Do you have a living will" and "Does Dan have medical power of attorney"). The morbid periods weren't very long but still didn't help my mood at all.

So overall - Happy/scared/hopeful/cringing/etc... Roller coaster, anyone?

Dan has been fantastic in his support as well as all of the other support that both of us have received has just been incredible.

And now as I look at the clock, less than 24 hours to go...

GACK!