Aplastic anemia, Bone Marrow transplant 1 year update
Life has been so busy and I've been too busy to keep up with my blog, and to that I can thank God. Why you ask? Because life is back to being as normal as it used to be. Daily tasks keep me busy like a normal person. Oh boy does it feel good. This can account on why this post is a little late..
3 weeks ago I hit my 1 year anniversary since my bone marrow transplant. It was a year ago that I was in the hospital, looking out the window at the 'normal' healthy people going on about with their lives, some with not a care in the world. I was battling a battle inside my head mentally, spiritually with the good and the evil, and physically. Every day was hard on it's own but God was with me the whole time like he promised. His care for me was like that of a mother with a newborn. He rocked me to sleep every night and put his angels in my room to fight off anything that can harm me. Not enough words can describe the love I continue to feel from him. I love him more and more every day as I think about how blessed I was and how he spared my life and literally kept me from feeling the things everyone feels with this deadly sickness. And he is putting everything back into place. Like he said he would.
So as for updates on my life after aplastic anemia, my counts have been at a solid normal for a while now. My iron is still dangerously high and it goes up and down but is not going down as fast as I would like it to. The doctors want to do a 1 year evaluation which includes a bone density test as well as a bone marrow biopsy. This will be my 5th and I am scared to death of this procedure as you all know because it is extremely painful. My insurance changed and so I will be transferring to a new oncology specialist and I am kinda worried about that because I do not know what to expect.
Also after 1 year they do a test that checks if the ovaries are still functioning. They did my test and I am not menopausal so thank Jesus! They said everything looks good so far from what it is showing. Yes I only had 5 days of chemo but it was pretty intense.
I am pretty sure a lot of people have been wodering about my hair..
I have not been comfortable enough to talk about it yet, but I feel like I am ready now.
Yes, I lost my hair 10 days after the transplant. My hair was so long, it was well past half way down my back. I cried when I started seeing pieces of hair on my pillow, prayed when was able to easily pull out pieces without any effort. After being in denial and having my hair in a bun for a few days I finally decided it was time to wash it. As I took out the head band, a quarter of my hair came out with it. The rest I was just able to basically just brush out. I bawled in shock as my husband held me close and told me it was going to be okay. I am still surprised how strong he was as he didn't cry with me, but instead got the nerve to shave the rest of my head. After my shower, I never cried about my hair again. He went to the store for me and got me head scarves and when I put them on he told me that I looked so much cuter than I did with the dirty old bun. I was 15 pounds over my normal weight at that time too so you can only imagine how self conscious I was feeling. But no, he still loved me, was attracted to me, and looked at me the same way he did the day we said our vows.
What I am thankful for also is that I got to keep my eye lashes and eye brows and they both got a lot thicker, and with a wig and cap, you couldn't even tell that I was sick. I didn't want people to know because I don't like sympathy and don't want pity. I am who I am, what happened, happened. I am okay with it. But a lot of people did know because they knew I was gonna take chemotherapy. And about the hair, the only thing that mattered after it fell out was if it was going to grow back. And as soon as I felt it, I was so happy. One thing is to lose it, it's another when it never grows back which can happen. So thank the Lord. With every month, my hair grew and I felt better about my self. I recently was able to get a trim and my husband wouldn't even let me touch the wig because he said I was too beautiful for it. It took a year for me to grow it out to where I was comfortable with it, but that is because my hair grows very slowly. And it's just hair. I know there are much greater things people have to live without forever, like a limb or ability to walk, see or hear. Be thankful if you have all of those. Be thankful if nothing about your health is bothering you. Be thankful to be alive. Be thankful if you are a christian and God has found you and set you apart from the world. Be thankful for everything that you have and everyone.
I will keep you all posted on everything new or any updates. Thank you for reading. Blessings.
xoxo
You are so beautiful inside and out. May God bless you and your health. :)
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