Just Barely Got Away From Hurricane Ike

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2008 10:40 AM

Good thing I didn't stay in Houston one more day and walk around downtown. This is the JP Morgan Chase building downtown.

That was close..
I got out of Houston just in time. Hurricane Ike this time. My first trip MD Anderson was closed for tropical storm Eduardo, then there was hurricane Gustav (but I stayed in Michigan when I was supposed to go) and now hurricane Ike. So by the time I got to Houston, everyone was already freaking about the hurricane. I'm not sure if there was a mandatory evacuation in Houston but Galvaston had mandatory evacuation.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went to MD Anderson. I got the first blood work and they also pulled hairs out for biomarkers. I was supposed to get blood work every hour for the entire day, but plans changed because the woman who draws my blood was evacuating. They wanted me to come back a week later to make up that testing, but since it is not required, I said I'll do it. YEAH RIGHT. I said HELL NO!! Okay, no really I just said "I think I have some plans I cannot break next week." I was pretty happy to get out of getting needles every hour and there is no way I am flying out to Houston just for that. Anyway, they told me to get out of Houston right away because tons of flights were being canceled and the airport might close. MD Anderson was closing early Thursday and closing all day Friday. So, I took off for the airport to spend the day there on standby. It was tough, but I was able to get on another flight. I had to give up the direct flight on the big plane for connecting flights on the puddle jumpers. All I cared was that I got to Michigan and didn't get stranded in Houston for the weekend.

I got the CA2729 (breast cancer tumor marker) blood test results this time. It is 390 (0-35 is normal). It seems high and it did go up from last time, but I am pretty hopeful. See, last time it went up a ton in two to three weeks. It was climbing fast. If it would have continued at that rate I would be over 600 by now. It went up about 30 points in one month which is not bad. I am VERY interested to see what it is in another month as well as what the CT scans will show.
I don't have to go to Houston for one whole month. Yeah!! Hopefully that will help me get the numbers down too because I will be able to be here in Michigan making my veggie juice and doing wheatgrass daily, drinking my alkaline water, doing the sauna and all the other things I do to be super uber healthy.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I dodged the bullet and did now have to mess with Ike.
Talk to you all soon. Have a great happy and meaningful weekend

Shannon

Oh and we had another Rack Pack meeting and it was a huge success. We had 8 people this time and that is not bad for a new group. It was awesome. We decided to have longer meetings (2 hours) and we are going to meet twice a month now (2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month) I am so excited about our new group. There is a need for a young women’s group for sure and I’m glad we will be there for anyone who feels alone.

Last thing is, my port has infection around it for sure. The infection didn’t get into my blood though (that’s when it’s an emergency). I have an appointment to have a consultation to have the port removed on Wednesday. It is flaming red and it freaking hurts. Of course MD Anderson gave me medication and this time (and only this time) I am not refusing. I cannot wait to have it removed. Removing it will also help me beat this cancer. Right now my immune system is using its energy to fight this infection around my port. It also recognizes my port as a foreign object that doesn’t belong in my body so it works to get rid of it by slowly pushing it out of my body. When my immune system is tied up with that, it doesn’t put 100% effort into what I need it to do. So, getting my port removed is healthy for me too.

Now, I am seriously done writing
: )

Shannon