Hello Everyone! So I'm not really sure where I left off in updating you all so I will just start with this weekend. Saturday I woke up with chills/cold sweats/hot flashes and it was just a pretty awful day. I never had a fever but slept most of the day. The days since then have been much better. I'm still feeling extremely weak, especially in my legs. Going up the stairs is a challenge.

My white count has also started to climb this week so we are doubling the Revlimid and hoping it will do a better job, if not, Dr. Rizzieri has yet another drug in mind to start sometime in the next few weeks. After the mouth sore/mucousitis situation I'm going to really have to weigh the possible side effects vs. possible outcomes of these drugs. This new drug would also require about a weeks stay in the hospital. These are tough decisions that I need all of you to pray about. I trust God will lead me in the right direction.

Hope you all are having a good week,

Amy

Wow - I did not realize it had been so long since I posted a message. Sunday through Wednesday were good days; I felt like I was improving everyday. Thursday and Friday weren't so great. The coughing just pretty much took up my day which makes me achy and just feel yucky. I feel like I have three problems: mouth sores, throat irritation, and coughing/mucous. They tend to rotate as to which is worse at the moment. Right now the mouth sores are the worst, I've even felt a couple new ones pop up over the last couple of days. My appetite is dwindling so we're also having to watch my weight to make sure I don't lose too much weight.

They took me off of the Hydrea. The way I understand it is that the Hydrea works to cut down the number of white cells in the blood. Revlimid, on the other hand, tries to get the bone marrow to make good cells. So hopefully once the Revlimid gets in my system, it will help create some good white cells and clear up my mouth/throat. I had low grade fevers the first few days I was on Revlimid but those have gone away and they say this is not uncommon.

Hope you all have a good week,

Amy

Hi Everyone! It has not been the best week here in Durham. They say "two steps forward and one step back" and this week I've definitely taken a step back. I really cannot tell if my mouth is improving or not but the main nuisance has been the cough and mucous it brings up with it. My throat is just raw from this. They say my lungs sound clear and it's all in my lower throat, which is good. However, I have been running a low grade fever off and on. Hopefully this congestion stuff is nothing more than mucositis, if not they will have to put me on stronger antibiotics.

Now for the answer to the million dollar questions "are they here yet?" YES

The Revlimid came Thursday so I've had 3 doses of it so far and haven't noticed any side effects yet.

Thanks for all of prayers and support, Amy

One final note:

JMU 21 Virginia Tech 16 - I have never been more proud to be a JMU Duke!

It's been a good week here since I last updated. Things are improving just very, very slowly. My mouth sores/throat are improving. I even ate a grilled cheese yesterday! My biggest problem in the last few days is just all the fluids. I've had some sinus headaches (I assume that's what they are) because of this. We still have not received the Revlimid but we're told it should come in the mail sometime soon.

My next topic: David Richardson. He is my very entertaining cousin (2nd or 3rd or both, I don't know - the origins are West Virginia). I thought you all would enjoy this picture of him in Alaska:

So if you thought he was crazy before, you will really think he's crazy now. I have spoken to witnesses that this is not photoshopped, it's the real deal. (Sorry David - hope you don't mind my posting this pic)

Hope you all have a good labor day weekend,

Amy