A note from Lulie

This is a bit old, but still has good info.

Dear Family and friends,
I guess it is time for another update after being home for 12 days on my own, but being babied and fussed over by Valerie and Kathie every day. I have enjoyed the quiet of my home, and the slow pace of doing what I felt like doing. How many of you would like to be doing that? I am driving the car and getting myself to places that I need to be, like the lab for tests on a regular basis.

I spent a good part of the day Friday (yesterday) in doctors' offices . Dr Wallentine was pleased with the report on my blood. I am climbing in all aspects; platelets and red blood cells are in the normal range and white blood cells continue to climb and are high enough that I can now roam where I want to and have family come by. In other words, I am out of isolation and can go out in public, using caution. Next Friday the doctor will do a bone marrow biopsy to get a look at what is really happening in the blood marrow. Good news.

Today I showed him a sore spot on my arm that looked like a blood clot to me and he decided to have me get an ultra sound of the veins and sure enough there were blood clots but blood was still able to flow through the vein. The final decision was that I needed to be on blood thinners for the next 6 months. So I had a shot in the belly, and then went to the pharmacy to buy some cumedin that I need to take every day. I was sent home with the shots for the belly for Saturday and Sunday that I would self administer and then would have to go back to the office on Monday for a blood test to see if the clotting mechanism was reducing. I also went to the chiropractor to see if I could get some relief from my neck and back pain (probably caused from being in bed too much the past month.)

I thought you might be interested in a "tender mercy" that happened in connection with this experience. When I had finished with the ultra sound, the technition told me it was really a good thing that I had the ultra sound when I did. She called my doctor to give him the results, and he asked that I come right up to his office while he and others decided what would be the best way to treat it. After a while the lab technition came out and called me back into the lab. She told me that the shots I needed were very expensive and not covered by insurance, but that a patient had brought in half a box of the syringes that she hadn't needed and asked that the lab give them to someone who needed them. So I was the lucky recipient. I was told to bring one of the syringes in on Saturday morning and another on Sunday morning at 8 a.m. and they would administer it. I said I didn't think it looked to hard to do, and why couldn't I self administer it. The nurse said if I felt comfortable doing it I could do it that way. So this morning I gave myself the shot, almost perfectly, and tomorrow am confident I will do it perfectly. Wasn't that a "tender mercy" to not have to pay for the shots? I hope that I won't need all of them so that I can turn some back in so someone else can benefit as I did.

I have come to expect that the road ahead for me will be filled with a few bumps so I don't get upset with things like blood clots. I am just glad that we are able to be led to get the bumps addressed before they are major problems.

I feel well, I feel optimistic, I feel loved and supported. Your prayers for me have lifted my spirits and have been answered in a marvelous way. I am so deeply grateful to all of you and for the constant assurance of the Spirit that all is well.

With much love,
Lulie